Humanity's Finest
by Spyash2
Summary: When villages allied to Warfang and scouts go missing, an old face returns to Warfang. At the same time an Ancient "unkillable" enemy controlled by a strange spirt resurfaces to take revenge on all those living...
1. Chapter 1

Humanity's Finest

Prologue

The guardians walked through the crowded streets of Warfang, there were rumours of a small band of Cheetah's and Moles that captured a live human. And they brought the creature here, to the dragon city itself of all things. That was why Warfang was crowded with dragons, moles, cheetahs and many other creatures. They like the guardians wanted to see if the rumour was true. The guardians followed the path until they came across a rather large crowd that was growing by the minute. They were assembled in front of a large building that had two massive signs in front of the double door entrance that said "A real live human" and "Come see it today!".

There was a lot of talking going on about the latest capture, the guardians were hearing things such as "How many did it take to catch one?" or "Do you think the human put up a fight?" all these and others were such questions that needed answering.

"Terrador what do you think of all this?" Cyril the ice dragon asked with suspicion. "It seems rather far fetched. Even for them."

Terrador chuckled "Hearing about it is one thing. But seeing it is another." The earth dragon mused. He looked at his friend with a wise expression, "We are the only ones who knows what a human can do Cyril."

"That was only one human Terrador." Volteer butted in, much to Cyril's annoyance. "One human that took on more dummies in our training room. And he prevailed against the toughest of those dummies. What are the odds that we'll find another human with the same capabilities?"

Volteer had a valid point. While it occoured several months ago, they could still remember the very first human they encountered - Tank Dempsey. He took on multiple dummies including one large dummy; and had sustained many bruses and wounds from it. Then his "betrayal" when other humans appeared. Ones that he seemed to know. They managed to escape back to the place where Spyro and Cynder discovered him, and had their final confrontation with the humans. It was there Terrador had said the humans "perished", but Cyril and Volteer seemed to think otherwise. There was no bodies when they returned several weeks later, but there was no trace of them either. They seemed to have... vanished.

"That was long ago Volteer. If the humans DID survive the buildings collaspe; where would they go? What would they do once they were discovered?" Terrador questioned.

"Hmpth, Dempsey did say they would travel to the past." Volteer mumbled grumpily to himself.

Suddenly everyone quiet themselves down when someone shouted "Look!" and turned their gaze to the building entrance. The double doors opened and a small group of moles and cheetahs walked out, pulling a medium sized cage that was covered up completely with ropes. The dragons had a good view of the cage, while the moles, cheetah's and other creatures that joined would go on their toes just to get a good view.

Then one of the cheetah's cleared his throat and pointed at the cage behind him. "Behind this cage, is a real live human." The cheetah spoke aloud so everyone could hear him. "It took sixteen of us to capture him, he injured ten and killed three other members of our group. He is extremely violent' and wouldn't hesitate to kill given the chance."

The cheetah paused to catch his breath and clapped his paws together. "Pull the cover off the cage, and gaze upon: The Human!"

The cover was pulled from the cage and to the shock of others, was a real live human standing in the middle of the cage itself, with his arms folded together and eyes closed. The human has grown a small beard, and is covered in dirt and blood. The human wore an open buttoned, rolled up sleeve jacket, a black t-shirt and a cartridge belt strapped along his chest with a single strap of suspenders holding it together along his back. There was a sheath that was meant to contain a combat knife under the cartridge belt. And an empty holster for a pistol was strapped along his waist.

"It is a human!" A member of the crowd called out in surprise.

"Yes! And a very dangerous human." The cheetah said with a proud expression on his face. "The weapons he used against us was so advanced, we barely captured him alive. There were three others with him, but he remained behind to fight us. Honourable, but foolish."

Volteer strained his eyes to get a closer look as the crowd , and his jaw dropped when he seemed familar. No very familar. "Cyril, look at the human. Does he seem familar to you?"

The ice dragon stared at Volteer for a moment before shaking his head. He looked at the human from where he was, and strained his eyes to get a better look. "He does seem familar... where have I seen him?"

ooOOoo

Slowly opening his eyes Dempsey glanced around the area. The cage he was in thankfully wasn't made out of metal, but out of wood. The cheetah that was showing him off was too busy addressing to the crowd to even notice him. He looked around to figure out his current situation and found himself surrounded by a massive crowd and a few guards that he beat up a while ago. Uncrossing his arms Dempsey slowly moved his hands behind his back, glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone was there. Reaching into the back of his pants Dempsey grasped the handle of a weapon he'd successfully hidden from them. And he slowly lifted it out until the handle came out. He then used the back of his jacket to cover it up so the others wouldn't see.

He snapped his head up when he heard the cheetah talking to him.

"Ah, and our prize finally opens his eyes! How does that cage suit you human?"

Shrugging Dempsey crossed his arms as he leant against the wooden bars on the cage, "Meh, I had worse. Not the same as being submerged in malarial water, but it'll do." He finished with a smug grin.

The cheetah scoffed at Dempsey but leaned in so Dempsey could hear. "You'd better be a good human and do as I say. Or you won't see tomorrows sun." The cheetah said threateningly pressing a claw on his torso.

Dempsey however wasn't fazed by the threat, he fought through thousands upon thousands of undead. Killed over twenty-five thousand Hellhounds and zombies combined, and he had survived the greatest war the Earth had ever seen. This furball was nothing to him, and Dempsey was going to make sure he knew that.

"You made two mistakes furball." Dempsey began making himself sound serious. "One: you threatened me. Bad move. Two: You're **dangerously** close to me. A fatal mistake."

Tilting his head in confusion the cheetah's eyes widened in terror when he felt something hard press into his stomach. He didn't need to look down to know what it was.

"A CZ 75. A human made pistol that can fire fifteen rounds. Its semi-automatic, which means I can put in a whole magazine in you're torso. And no one will be fast enough to stop it." As he said this the gathered crowd began to shout impatently, they wanted to see the human with their own eyes.

But when the cheetah didn't reply Terrador immeditally knew something was up. He when he forced his way to the front of the crowd to get a better look. Cyril and Volteer had the same idea as they were forcing their own way to the front of the crowd. Terrador's jaw dropped when he saw the face of the person he thought was long gone...

Tank Dempsey.


	2. Chapter 2

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 1

The crowd had literally lost their cool when they saw Dempsey kick the cheetah to the floor with his boot. Someone within the crowd screamed when Dempsey rapidly fired his CZ 75 at the guards around him' with fifteen rounds in the chamber many of them fell to the ground with holes in their back, head and stomach. The one he spared, was the one he kicked to the floor. With a cold and emotionless smile Dempsey watched as the cheetah tried to crawl away from him.

"Aw did I scare the furball?" Dempsey mocked as he holstered his pistol. He turned his gaze to three dragons who were now approching him, he could see the suspition and uncertainty in their eyes. But they were also cautious, seeing that little display he put on had put the dragons on edge. The crowd that was behind were following the dragons but at a safe distance, the cheetah quickly got on his feet and ran behind the dragons for safety.

"Frickin' coward, your not so tough now are ya', you bastard!" Dempsey spat in disgust.

Dempsey's brow arched in surprise when the dragons stopped in front of the cage, and began to sniff him as if they were looking for something. They actually were trying to discover if he was the same person a few months ago. Dempsey merely observed the dragons in front of him; they seemed familar yet at the same time they didn't.

"Dempsey? Is that you?" The blue dragon asked in a curious yet hopeful voice.

That voice was enough to make Dempsey recognise the dragon, Cyril! But if he was in front of the cage, then the other guardians were... "Oh shit..." He cursed his gaze turning to the large green dragon. "Terrador? Please tell me you're not gonna try and crush me as a boulder?" Dempsey asked backing away from the guardians out of fear. His right hand hovering over the grip on his pistol, getting himself ready to fight if he needed too.

Terrador lowered his head so he and Dempsey were able to talk face to face. "No, not unless you do something that makes me however."

Dempsey stood in his cage with a dumbfounded look on his face. He took a minute to stare at the corpses around him, and in disbelief he rubbed his nose. Were these dragons blind and stupid? "Dude, I just shot and killed moles and cheetahs around my 'cage' that should make you do something!"

"Yes, it is true that you have killed." Cyril started with a grim voice. "But you must have had a good reason for it?"

"Hmm, lets see. Kidnapping me, giving me next to nothing to eat, and showing me as a curiosity to this city of yours. Yeah, I concider those as 'good reasons' to kill 'em." Dempsey answered with a growl. "Not to mention that they attacked me and the others shortly after we accidentally came here." He further added in distaste.

Terrador arched his brows in surprise, there were more with him? "Others?" He asked. "How many others?"

"About three more, the same dudes that you encountered in the temple." Dempsey answered' he looked around in the cage he was in, and looked at the crowd behind the guardians. "Not nice people if you piss 'em off."

"I have a question if you don't mind Dempsey." Volteer spoke quickly.

"Er... Ok?" Dempsey gave the yellow dragon an awkward look.

"You seemed to have aged rather drastically in a short time, how did this happen?" Volteer asked eagerly, wanting to learn what caused this.

"Well, remember that building Terrador and the other earth dragons collasped?" The dragons nodded. "Well one of them managed to get a lucky hit on the machine we were in. It malfunctioned, throwing us into the past and aging us at the same time." Dempsey shuddered before glaring at Terrador. "Thank's for that, you and you're dragons just took about three years out of me."

ooOOoo

The valley of Avalar had seen its fair share of battle during the war against Malefor. And when the planet was breaking apart it left some areas of the valley impassible; villages went missing or were destroyed by Malefor's army of grublins and trolls. But now the valley was about to be met with some new arrivals. Three to be exact.

"Well thank's to Takeo, Dempsey vas captured."

Doctor Edward Richtofen, who is also known as "The Doc" and "The Butcher" walked through the forest with Takeo Masaki and Nikolai Belinski who were standing five metres away from him. From the effects of the teleporter that had been damaged the three had aged, but the one who had aged the most was Takeo. Now he has a mustache and a few wrinkles under his eyes. But the rest of his appearence is fairly the same, his Katana still hung loosely in his sheath that was strapped to his waist. His canteens and pouches were on several places of his body, mainly on his belt.

Nikolai had put on a few pounds though, but nothing else on him looked different. Save for a band-aid on his left arm when he teleported into the past. Somehow, his sack that contained bottles of vodka remained. His clothing consists of a standard Red Army uniform, with the addition of a cloth tied over his head like a bonnet.

Richtofen looked the same before the teleporter malfunctioned, the only thing that's changed is the dirt and grime on him. Plus there was a dark shade of grey on his face. Adjusting his visor cap so the sun wouldn't get in his eyes Richtofen slung his MP40 on his back and sat on a stump.

"Resting comrade?" Richtofen didn't bother looking up. His feet were killing him, and he had little patence for just about anything. But Nikolai? He could spare some of his time for that drunk.

"Ja, my feet are KILLING me." Richtofen replied, saying the word "killing" in a high pitched voice. "My feet must rest."

Sitting down on a large log nearby Nikolai unslung his sack and placed it on the ground. After a few seconds of trying to open it, he took out the bags contents. A bunch of bottles that had clear liquid's inside them, five magazine rounds for his AK47, and lastly four M67 grenades. He checked his person for anything else he might be missing, and after finding a few canteens that were half empty he set them on the ground.

"Well, looks like my water supply is almost out." He grimly stated. Looking at the doctor and the Imperial who was leaning against a tree, he sighed. "What about you two? How well supplied are you?"

Rubbing his chin Richtofen checked his pouches and pockets and placed whatever he could get his hands on, onto the ground in front of him. Three magazines for his MP40, ten rounds for his duel wield CZ 75. Because carrying one pistol is never enough. And two M67 grenades' plus he had two canteens that were almost empty as well.

"My vater supply as almost out as vell. We will need to fill them up!"

"Da, I agree. What about you Takeo?" Nikolai asked taking a swig of vodka.

Takeo merely stared at Nikolai before replying "I do not need to check my suppries." Nikolai gave him an irriated look and Richtofen merely sighed; rubbing the bridge of his nose to get rid of the headache that was building.

"I checked them hours ago..." Takeo continued as he looked away to admire the scenery around them. "My AK74u is armost out of ammunation. And my water suppry is row."

"Richtofen, why can't Takeo say 'L' in words? It is confusing." Nikolai whispered so Takeo couldn't hear.

"During my time in Japan, ze Japanese don't have the letter 'L' in their alphabet." Richtofen explained to the confused Soviet. "So, anything that has 'L' in it, vill be replaced by ze letter 'R' is zat good enough Russian?"

Itching the side of his nose Nikolai shrugged, but nodded none-the-less. "Da, I understand now. But it still confuses me."

Nikolai and Richtofen stared at Takeo when they heard him chuckle. The Imperial was staring at a deer that was staring at the group from a distance. Looking at the Nazi and Soviet Takeo unslung his AK74u. Without saying anything Nikolai and Richtofen gathered all their equipment and canteens and unslung their own weapons. They were going to get food, no matter the cost.

ooOOoo

A few minutes later...

Nikolai was cowering behind a stump with his head inbetween his legs, the deer when they went after it proved to be too much for the drunk. Takeo and Richtofen literally laughed their own heads off when they say him curl up into a ball for his own comfort. But the deer was killed and they made a campfire, with meat from the deer cooking from a peice of wood. When Nikolai refused to eat the food from the "demon animal" as he called it Takeo placed a large quantity of meat into a dry cloth covering it from all the dust and bugs that would be attracted to it. They needed food to keep going and they weren't going to forget about Dempsey; he needed food as much as they did.

"Vell, we should rest here." Richtofen said with a yawn. "Afterwards, we shall hunt down Dempsey, and those who captured him!" He added with a sadistic smile.

"I agree with Richtofen, resting first, finding the stupid American rater!" Takeo agreed with a laugh.

"If I wasn't forcing to work with that Japanese pig, his face would meet the end of my boot." Nikolai grumbled, his hatred for the Imperial growing.

Nikolai immeditally sat up when he heard something moving in a bush nearby. Grabbing his AK47 and taking off the safety Nikolai got on his feet and slowly approched the bush, his index finger planted firmly on the trigger.

"Nikolai? Vhat are you doing?" Richtofen called out.

Nikolai held up a hand silencing the German as he continued his approach. He ran the barrel of his assult rifle into the bush, forcing it open to see what was within. After a few intense moments Nikolai withdrew, sighing in relief. Takeo and Richtofen became less tense as they removed their caps to rub their foreheads.

"I swear I heard something inside that bush..." Nikolai said with uncertainty.

The next thing Nikolai knew, he fell to the ground face first and felt something bite down on his leg. Screaming in agony Nikolai looked over his shoulder as he felt himself getting dragged away. He heard Takeo and Richtofen shouting in alarm as they grabbed their weapons and began firing randomly what whomever was attacking Nikolai.

Nikolai felt the grip on his leg tighten. "Chyort! It's grip is tightening! Get it off you facists!" Nikolai shouted pain filling his voice.

Richtofen had gotton a lucky hit as he heard something whimper in surprise, and Nikolai getting back on his feet before limping towards them.

"Nikolai! Are you alright?" Richtofen asked his voice full of concern.

"Da, the piz'da got me by surprise." He whinced when he tried to pull some weight on his injured foot. "Chyort! I won't be able to fight like this!" He complained as he fell down on his butt.

Takeo who had grabbed Nikolai's weapon handed it to the Soviet. "Thank you very much,"

The three were on high alert now that they knew they weren't alone. Nikolai winced as he got down on one knee and scanned his surroundings. The other two had their backs turned to Nikolai and were scanning the area carefully for the intruder. Whoever was here wasn't friendly, and they weren't going to leave their camp without a fight.


	3. Chapter 3

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 2

It seemed ages ago when Dempsey allowed himself to be captured. And it seemed even longer when the guardians announced they were going to take him away. Claiming they "knew" him. They were telling the truth, they did know him, to some extent. But they were also wary of him; after his little stunt a while ago one of the guardians volunteered kept an eye on him. But to regain their trust he lost long ago, he refused to leave the cage and handed over his pistol to them. And this is where he now found himself, in the Warfang temple with Volteer watching over him.

There was one question that arose within his mind, where was Spyro and Cynder? And the annoying dragonfly that followed them around. Volteer seemed to have picked up on this, because he walked to the cage.

"The young ones are out on a mission of sorts." The yellow dragon hesitated, grunting as he sat down in front of the cage.

If Dempsey didn't hear himself better, he'd have thought something bad was going on. "What kind of mission?" He asked the electric guardian, suddenly full of interest.

Volteer once again hesitated and Dempsey easily picked up on that. Something bad was going on. "Volteer..." He started a little forcibly than he intended. "What. Kind. Of. Mission?"

Dempsey had never seen Volteer disturbed before in the short time he was here. But that look the dragon gave him, it was grave and full of worry. Something bad was happening to them when he was gone. He was certain of it.

"Volteer." Dempsey made his voice sound worried, so it could "help" make Volteer tell him what he wanted to know. "Did something bad happen after I vanished?"

Volteer bit his bottom lip as he looked towards the door, he seemed to think someone might overhear him. Dempsey could understand that, but he was getting nowhere' he needed information. And information was a playable power in this world.

"If you're worried about someone overhearing us. Or me telling anyone, don't worry about it." Volteer looked back, only to see Dempsey leaning on front of the cage with a worried look. "Something bad is going on out there. Isn't it?"

"Yes." Dempsey smirked when he finally received his first answer from the guardian. Volteer leant down so his head was leveled with Dempsey's. "Villages are going missing, scouts are vanishing without a trace." The guardian tensed as he spoke those words.

"And just recently, a village we traded closely with in Avalar; has been attacked. There were few to no survivors." He said all of these unnaturally slow; something Dempsey thought wasn't common for Volteer. Because he was trying his best to stop himself from speaking fast.

Dempsey then got straight to the point, "Do you know whose doing the attacks?"

"No." Volteer solemnly shook his head; his eyes full of regret. "Whomever is doing them, is skilled. They mainly attack at night' and use the cover to their advantage. Some large and medium sized villages are lucky enough to even repel their attacks..."

"And that brings us to Spyro and Cynder... you sent them to find out whose doing this." Dempsey guessed as he crossed his legs. He looked at the ground of his cage in thought and grimly guessed they've been missing for some time.

His guess was correct when Volteer confermed it himself, but there was something else. Something he wanted' once glance from the dragon and Dempsey easily got it. He maybe blunt and violent but he wasn't stupid.

"I'll do it." He answered Volteer's unasked question. Which earned a deal of surprise from the electric dragon. But that look of surprise quickly turned into a look of joy. As Volteer began to find a way to unlock the cage, Dempsey simply made his own exit: by kicking a couple of wooden bars in half.

Volteer took a few steps away in surprise. And watched at Dempsey took the first step out of his cage. "Been wanting to do that for a while now." Dempsey said as he rubbed his shoulder to get rid of the tension that was building there.

"How did you... That shouldn't be!"

Dempsey held up a hand to silence the dragon. "I wasn't spending an entire week in that cage doing nothing ya' know." He licked his teeth to reassure himself before gesturing at the cage. "Been tryin' to gnaw my way out of that thing before I got here. Most of my teeth hurt; and my gums were bleeding." Dempsey rubbed his jawline, wincing as he felt a sharp pain near the back of his teeth.

"Had to stop for a while. For my gums to heal. Then I, ended up here."

He smiled when he saw a familar chalk outline on a wall nearby. "Never thought these would be here..." Dempsey mused as he approched the wall. Volteer followed him when he's seen what was on the wall inside the temple.

"Fascinating! What would this interesting thing be?" Volteer asked running a claw over the chalk outline. "I have never seen anything like this before in my lifetime!" He exclaimed looking at the outline when nothing has changed.

"That would be a weapon I can 'buy' to use. Don't know how it works or how it came to be, it just...did!" The chalk outline looked like an M14 Rifle, a Semi-automatic weapon that has twenty round in it. Not to be confused with his pistol which is also Semi-automatic and fully-automatic. It can be used for many things; one of them being a sniper rifle. It just needed a scope for it to be one.

"Let's see..." Dempsey mumbled as he reached out to touch it. Volteer's eyes widened is surprise when he saw a weapon merge in the humans hands, and he was even more shocked when Dempsey leaned over before falling on one knee. He looked drained.

"Ahhhh. Dam, didn't think it would take that much out of me..."

Standing up seemingly full of energy he gave Volteer one look before motioning with his head. "Come on. Let's find the others."

ooOOoo

"Out you come you coward!" Nikolai growled at their stalker.

Nikolai scanned his surroundings with his AK47. The attacker was well hidden and no one could find him. And being smart Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen decided to stay together. Knowing they would be picked off one by one if they split the three decided have their backs to each other.

"I don't rike dishonourabre peopre! Hiding within the shadows," Takeo muttered in a grave voice. "It is... Shamefull."

Richtofen scoffed at Takeo. "At least zis person has ze brains to use the shadows; but ze creature is vounded."

Nikolai grunted in pain as he shifted his position, and looked over his shoulder. "Perhap's we should try reasoning with this suka?"

Just as Richtofen was about to reply a new voice entered the fray. Interrupting the nazi from speaking. "I don't reason with those who work for the Dark Master!" The stranger growled, his voice full of hate and disgust.

Takeo put on a confused look and looked at Richtofen, who shrugged in responce. Even the infamous nazi himself was confused, which was rare, even for him. "What makes you think we work for this... 'Dark Master'?" Takeo asked, frowning at how this person immeditally concidered them to be an enemy.

"Because!" The voice started, "The surrounding villages are going missing at night! And the ones who are doing them have weapons very similar to yours!"

Everyone looked at their own weapons in surprise, someone was giving humans a bad name? Not wise. "Someone is frameing us!" Was the first thing Nikolai shouted out in anger.

"For once Russian, I agree. This cannot go any further!" Takeo agreed with raw determination.

Richtofen however was the only one who looked excited about the whole thing. And much to Takeo and Nikolai's dismay his unstablility was beginning to show.

"Something's been framing us? The schweinhund shall feel my blade, in his HEAD!" Richtofen shouted giggling like a child as his hands shook uncontrollably. "And I shall enjoy the pain the specimen will receive!"

Takeo and Richtofen a worried look' Nikolai was also giving Richtofen a worried look. Knowing the nazi, he would actually decapitate someone in order to "learn" from it. It's the way he is, and what he alway's will be. Their just thankful that Richtofen's an ally instead of an enemy.

"I make deal yea?" Nikolai offered the hidden person. "Would you like hearing it?" The soviet slurred, signifying that he was now drunk.

Takeo easily noticed this and was quick to try and stop the Soviet from doing something that might get them into futher trouble with this... hidden stalker of theirs. "Nikolai I don't think-" Takeo started, but Nikolai held up a hand signifying him to "shut you're mouth"

"Are you there?" Nikolai called out. A few minutes of awkward silence later and the voice came back, but a lot more calmer than he was.

"Yes. I'm here."

"Good, I'm going to set my weapon to the ground." Nikolai said as he slowly placed his weapon on the ground in front of him. "Takeo, Richtofen, do the same."

This had gotten a really bad reaction from them, and they began complaining about how bad this was. And how vulnerable they would be if they carelessly cast their weapons aside. However Nikolai felt they had to gain this person's (if he was a person) trust. So after twenty long minutes of trying to convince them that they needed to put their weapons aside, they agreed. Although they were reluctant to do so.

After all three of them were appearantly weaponless, they took a few steps away. So there was a respectable amount of distance between them and their weapons; Nikolai winced as he felt another stab of pain run through his injured leg, and could actually feel the blood running down to his foot. He'll have to get Richtofen to patch it up. The last thing he needs is an infection!

"Alright!" Nikolai began' his voice full of pain. "Now that we are respectfully away from weapons. Can you reveal yourself?"

There was another long awkward silence between the two groups. A full five minutes had past until the silence was broken when they stranger said "Ok" to the group. The next thing, the three were covering their eyes when a flash of blinding light suddenly appeared in front of them.

When Nikolai and the others uncovered their eyes when the light vanished, their jaws literally dropped when they saw a black dragon, with a deadly looking double tale blade for a tail. The dragon had three crystals hanging from his neck in the fashion of a necklace. The dragon also had a large scar on his face, which made him look frightening.

After the dragon had made his appearence, he spoke to them in four simple words. Which had the three humans shocked out of their minds.

"My name is Zoidius."


	4. Chapter 4

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 3

The stalls in the marketplace used to be filled with different piles of meat and fruit and full of activity. Now however Warfangs food supplies and water were running out, and with the way things were going on it was going to get worse. A lot worse. There was still some activity however, just a few merchants trying to sale their wares to those that were passing by.

"This is what those attacks have reduced us too, Dempsey." Volteer gravely said to the human beside him. He looked down at Dempsey, there was an expression on his face that he couldn't explain. Was it disgust? Possibly. Or was it pity? Or perhaps: both.

Without looking at the Dragon Guardian Dempsey said, "How long has it been like this?"

"A very long time." Dempsey and Volteer looked behind them when Terrador spoke in a grave tone. His eyes trained on Dempsey; he sighed when he saw a strange looking rifle slung oner his shoulder. "Maybe three to four weeks. You're presence here Dempsey has put their troubles aside for now."

Dempsey nodded and looked back at the marketplace before crossing his arms. "Where's Cyril? I thought he'd be here by now." He questioned as he looked at the earth dragon with suspicion in his eyes.

"He's preoccupied with a few of the younger dragons. You're presence within our Temple has caused a lot of questions." Volteer quickly answered, much to Terrador's relief. Sometimes, that fast mouth of Volteer's was a gift' and with his ever growing knowledge of the world, and the worlds forgotten 'past' that mouth will be an unbearable aid to their cause.

"Let me guess: their asking a bunch of questions that involves me, right?" Dempsey smartly asked with a smug grin.

"Indeed." Terrador answered lowly. Motioning the two to follow him the three walked towards the marketplace. But kept Dempsey in the middle of them, some cheetah's and moles were out for his blood after he injured the guards. And even if he was armed with a new looking weapon there were far too many of them for Dempsey to handle. He needed the protection' and the guardians who knew him were rather... Hesitant at first, to give the human the protection he needed from the angry crowd.

"Glorious..." Dempsey said sarcastically.

Entering the marketplace those who were there, stopped what they were doing almost immeditally. There were some respectful nods that Dempsey guessed were for the two guardians beside him. And then there were a few earth dragons who were giving him shocked expressions; he guessed those were the ones that made the building collaspe on top of him and his group before teleporting out of there. He heard a few cheetah's and... wolves? Growling at him in an aggressive manner. Dempsey smirked and give them the finger before jogging to keep himself inbetween the two guardians.

"Where we headin'?" Dempsey asked after minutes of silence.

"To Cyril; we need him with us as well." Terrador answered, Dempsey opened his mouth to ask where he was. But Terrador effectively beat the human to it. Stopping and putting himself in front of the human, he leaned down so his head was leveled with Dempseys.

Terrador then spoke in a very serious manner. "You are concidered an enemy to this city Dempsey. You are lucky to even be alive after what you did in front of all those people." He leaned in so his snout was nearly touching Dempsey's face. "No more questions out of you. Understand?" He snarled to make it effective.

Blinking twice Dempsey carelessly waved the dragon off. "You don't need to get in my face, just to say that - dude." He said bluntly, which made Terrador raise his head in surprise. "Second of all, I stared down death itself, so I don't give a fuck if an entire country full of dragons, moles and cheetah's was out there tryin' to kill me! I'd concider that a god-dammed break after all I'd been through."

Terrador merely snorted in annoyance before walking on. Volteer and Dempsey stared at each other for what seemed to be a long time, before the yellow dragon was on the ground laughing himself to death.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Y-you just, oh by my ancestors, Terrador's face was PRICELESS!" Volteer laughed at the top of his voice which gained some people watching he guardian laughing his head off. Taking a deep breath Volteer laughed even harder than before; Dempsey smirked as he lot out a chuckle, and rubbing the bridge of his nose at the same time.

Getting himself together Dempsey pat Volteer on the snout; but kept the smirk turned smile on his face. "C'mon Volteer, before someone thinks I tickled you to the ground." He said jokingly.

Regaining himself Volteer cleared his throat and got himself on his paws. "Yes! Indeed! Wouldn't want someone to think that." The two chuckled as they ran to catch up with Terrador, who was already a distance away from them.

ooOOoo

Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were staring at the black dragon who was currently staring back at them, although it was more of a "glare" than a "stare". The dragon who called himself Zoidius sat down with a yawn; and carefully studied the defenseless humans in front of him. They didn't seem like threats to him but he learnt from the past that looks can be deciving, and that everyone is a potencial enemy of his. Nikolai, who was the one he bit; limped towards a stump nearby, doing this had quickly gotten Zoidius back on his feet in a aggressive manner.

He watched as Nikolai gritted his teeth in pain as he lifted his trouser leg, to reveal deadly looking bite marks and scratches on his calf muscle that was completely drenched in blood that flowed down onto his boot. Richtofen who had easily smelt the blood looked in the Soviet direction, and cursed in German in alarm.

"Scheiße! Nikolai vhy didn't you tell me you vound vas like zis!" Richtofen scolded as he knelt beside the Russian examing the wound.

Nikolai brushed Richtofen's concern aside however, much to Zoidius's surprise. "Did not think it would matter, some Vodka would make pain go away though." Nikolai went through his sack and took out one of his many bottles, uncorked it and began to try drinking the pain away.

"Sometimes, I think I'm arway's with an idiot in this group." Takeo growled as he facepalmed himself. He looked at Nikolai mumbled to himself as the Soviet wiped his mouth. "It turns out I'm arway's right."

Zoidius tilted his head at Takeo. He expected whoever was attacking the outlaying villages was pure evil. Not this. He heard Nikolai spit out the liquid from his mouth before letting out a mighty yell; Richtofen merely scolded the Soviet as he wrapped a bandage around the wound.

"Vould you stay still Russian?" Richtofen impatently asked as he tried to hold Nikolai's leg in place.

"No! You're hurting me!" Nikolai complained as he struggled to get his wounded leg away from Richtofen.

"It vill hurt even more if you keep MOVING! Now stay still Dummkopf!" Richtofen snarled in responce. Giving up Nikolai gumbled to himself as he put on a grumpy expression, he whined when Richtofen made the bandage too tight on his leg, but the Doctor ignored him.

In an attempt to gather information Takeo began asking Zoidius questions about the attackers. "You say someone had been using weapons rike ours, correct?" He started, getting the black dragons attention.

Zoidius carefully looked at their weapons that were lying on the ground a fair distance away from them. "Similar, I said they were using very 'similar' weapons." The black dragon corrected him in a grim voice. Looking up at the Japanese soldier who was staring patently at him in return, he looked into his eyes. And saw both a wise man and someone who'd seen hell in them.

"Do you know whose being attacked?" Takeo asked bravely knelling in front of the dragon. When Zoidius didn't answer Takeo continued; "There is no honour in this, and who ever is attacking, will farr before our might." He then pointed to Nikolai and Richtofen. "We, sharr do whatever it takes to find these attackers. And eleminate them."

That! Had gotten a reaction out of the dragon.

"You're actually going to help me? After what I done to your...friend?"

Takeo slightly turned his head so the beak of his cap shadowed his eyes from the black dragon. "I never said I would herp you." Zoid growled in annoyance and before he could make a snappy remark, Takeo continued. "However. Someone out there is framing us' we sharr make them pay!"

"Da! I agree with the Japanese pig on this one! Those sukas are going to die." Nikolai shouted to them. "OW! Richtofen do that again and I will blow your fucking head off!"

Richtofen laughed like a little child getting his first bike at the responce, Zoidius looked at the two and noticed there was some tension in the group. Although it was very little, after a minute of watching the two men bickering and annoying each other Richtofen has finally finished wrapping the bandage around the Soviet's leg.

"Vell, zat's zat done." Richtofen announched victoriously. "Nikolai vill be fine, just some minor wounds."

"Easy for you too say!" Nikolai shouted limping towards the humans and dragon. "You were not one who had his leg chewed like a toy!"

"Again vith ze complaining. I don't get paid enough for zis. Of vait, I don't get paid!" Richtofen laughed loudly as he retreaved both his and the others weapons from the ground. "Ze death of my enemies is payment enough!"

"Is he alright in the head?" Zoidius awkwardly asked Takeo.

Takeo stared at Zoidius for a few seconds before saying "No." he then took his AK74u from the Nazi and put the safety on before slinging over his shoulder. Zoidius watched as Richtofen handed Nikolai his AK47; after watching the Soviet do something and hearing a few clicks coming from the weapon Nikolai slinged the weapon over his shoudler.

"Strange, you vere meant to be injured..." Richtofen said to Zoidius with surprise in his voice. "How could you have healed in such a short time?"

If Zoidius didn't know any better he'd think Richtofen was trying to find something, something that would tip the odds in their favour. Truthfully, Zoidius did have something, three things infact' and they were hanging from his neck. But the humans didn't have to know that; so he came up with a simple lie.

"We dragons heal faster than others." Zoidius proudly said to Richtofen and the others. "It's rare to know a dragon that can heal upon impact, but I'm one of those dragons." The dragon lied as he kept a straight face, shame the humans didn't know anything about dragons. "The other dragons and I; also use crystals to heal and make ourselves stronger."

This has almost caught Richtofen's interest, "Really? Zat could be useful..." Richtofen said with a sinister simile.

Zoidius couldn't help himself as he nervously swollowed the large build of saliva that was forming in his mouth. There was something about that man, something that told him to be wary of him in the future.

"Time to go hunt those, who are impersonating us." Nikolai slurred signifying that he was as drunk as a horse. He stumpled and staggered past the group and he barely made it two feet before he fell to the ground. Face first.

Takeo sighed in annoyance as he and Richtofen went to help the drunk up. "This is going to be a rong night..."

ooOOoo

When Spyro opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was the lack of space he found himself lying down in. Quickly pushing himself up on all fours he winced as he tried to move his head around' he needed to know, was Cynder and Sparx alright? And if they weren't where are they held? When he observed his surroundings the first thing he noticed was there was a lot of different species in one place.

Moles, Cheetah's, Dragons and even Wolves were here. The second thing he noticed everyone had a chain connected to their necks; they seemed to be enchanted to prevent them from either escaping, or from preventing the chains from breaking. The third and final thing he noticed; was he and everyone else was trapped in a medium sized cage with metal bars.

As he took in everything he saw, one thing came to mind: They were captured.

Spyro looked at the ground in disbelief, how were they captured? The last thing they remembered was heading to a village that was recently attacked and then...nothing. "This can't be good..." Spyro thought grimly.

He quickly turned his head when a door opened, the light from the outside shining into the room. It was here that he realised, things were worse than he thought. Fourteen cages of different sizes that contained a variety of creatures; even those he had never seen before filled the room.

It was then Spyro heard a new voice being aggressive and struggling against their captor's. "Get those fifthy hands off of me you dammed dirty apes!"

Three new captives came into the room and were currently struggling against their captors with all their might before they were chucked in a cage together. Spyro strained his eyes as he walked to the edge of his cage. One of them had furless skin, and strange green clothing that covered most of their body. Then Spyro's eyes widened in surprise. They were humans!

One of them had scars on his face, and the hair on his head was mostly shaven off. He had a sheath for some kind of weapon strapped across his back. His rolled up sleeved jacket had different textures on it, as if it was trying to camoflage him from his enemies' and there was a holster for a small hand held weapon around his chest. His trousers were green though, and he had muddy brown boots.

The second person looked younger than the first two he had seen. But he looked very familar to someone he knew a long time ago though. The human wore an open buttoned, rolled up sleeve jacket, a black t-shirt and a cartridge belt strapped along his chest with a single strap of suspenders holding it together along his back. There was a sheath that was meant to contain a combat knife under the cartridge belt. And two empty holsters for pistols was strapped across his back and against his leather leggings.

The last and third human, was a heavily bearded man; but he wore similar clothing to the second person. Only his jacket was buttoned up; and he also had leather leggings. His sleeves were also rolled up, and he looked like he'd been through hell and back.

It was here that Spyro heard the scarred man shout in disgust at their captors. "You worthless animals! You don't deserve to call yourselves 'soldiers'."

"Roebuck, calm down." Spyro heard the second human say.

"Polonsky those fucking animals nearly killed us! They deserve to die for what they did." Roebuck shouted back in anger.

Spyro saw Roebuck and Polonsky knell down beside their comrade. "Hang in there Miller, we'll get you out of here in no time."

"Yeah, sure, as soon as we get our weapons back." Spyro heard the third and final human chuckle in amusement. He guessed this one was 'Miller'.

"What do we do now Sarge?" Polonsky asked leaning against the bars of their cage.

"We wait for an opportunity to escape. Then we blow the bastards to hell."

Spyro watched as Polonsky punched his fist into the air with a determined look on his face.

"Hoorah!"


	5. Chapter 5

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 4

It took two days and three nights for Richtofen and the other three to find the village that was recently attacked. The four were over looking the whole entire village from a vantage point, on top of a hill, behind a large sized boulder that covered their entire bodies. Only their heads were peeking out in the open; and the moon shined down on the once occupied village that was now deserted. The wooden houses that were there were either burnt to the ground or were just a pile of rubble. The thing that Takeo found strange was the lack of bodies.

"Zis seems really strange. No bodies around, but zis village is abandoned..." Richtofen said grimly. He narrowed his eyes when he saw something, or rather someone enter the village. But the night sky completely darkened this person's view, Richtofen could hardly make out a few things about the being.

It was large, muscluar and very, very hairy.

"Zat creature looks strange..." Richtofen said as he pointed at the shadowy creature that was now going out of his line of sight.

The others had barely caught sight of the creature before it vanished. Zoidius frowned, suspicion showing on his face.

"I don't like this." Zoidius said, closing his eyes in an attempt to focus on something. When he opened them again he scowled. "It's too quiet."

"Da, this reminds me of my time in Stalingrad." Nikolai slurred with a grim expression on his face. "The quietness, the seemingly abandoned-village below us... This is perfect for an ambush for unsuspecting travellers."

Everyone except for Zoidius stared at Nikolai with unexpected surprise.

"That was, very wise, Nikolai." Takeo said through gritted teeth. The Imperial soldier may have hated the drunk, but hearing wise words actually coming from the drunks mouth was indeed surprising.

"Indeed, zat vas wise." Richtofen said with raised eyebrows. "I never though ze drunk vould say something like zat."

Nikolai burped, blinking his eyes at the same time, trying to keep his vision from going blurry.

"Like what?" Richtofen and Takeo palmed their foreheads in annoyance, Nikolai had already forgotten what he just said ten seconds ago!

"Never mind." Richtofen sighed. "How vill ve get down there vithout being seen?" He rubbed his chin in thought.

"I have a suggestion." Zoidius said as an idea entered his head. The three humans stared at the black dragon, waiting and willing to hear the suggestion the dragon has. "I'll go down alone, and see what's what. If there are others down there, which I'm almost certain there is I'll return here and tell you what I've found."

Zoidius's eyes darted from one human to another as the thee muttered quietly to each other. The three then nodded and turned to Zoidius and nodded, giving him the ok. Smiling Zoidius looked down at the village and quickly yet silently snuck towards the village; using the cover of night to conceal himself, making him almost invisible to the naked eye.

Keeping himself low and out of sight Zoidius looked behind to see if anyone was watching, when he was certain that no one was there he closed his eyes for a moment, and felt his entire body get absorbed in magic. When he opened his eyes again, Zoidius looked over himself, he was now completely invisible! He smiled to himself as he ran down the hill, nothing would be able to see him like this!

ooOOoo

Dempsey and Volteer after they caught up with Terrador had finally found Cyril who was surrounded by dragons; but what they found unexpected was the cheetah's, moles and wolves were among the draconic group. They seemed incredibly angry and were shouting furiously as a group. Cyril looked like he was about to go off and freeze everyone in place any second.

Terrador stopped and looked at Dempsey with a disaproving look.

"Remember what I said Dempsey. You are under our protection, and as long as you are with one of us - you will not be harmed." The earth dragon warned. Dempsey nodded understanding what Terrador was saying completely.

Terrador turned and continued his approach to the gathered and angry group that has surrounded Cyril. Seeing the two fellow guardians approching Cyril's eyes lit up in relief, but frowned a bit when he saw Dempsey walking amongst the guardians. When Dempsey gave the ice dragon a nod, he respectfully returned it.

"Terrador, Volteer! Glad to see you both here, and you've brought the human with you." Cyril scowled when he said "human" and in responce Dempsey fixed the guardian a glare. But their presence had caught the attention of the angry group, and were snarling aggressively when they spotted the one who was the cause of their anger.

Seeing an impending attack Dempsey quickly unslung his M14, took off the safety and aimed the rifle at the group in one swift motion.

"Don't you dare try it! This thing has twenty rounds in it, unless you want to be a corpse I'd change you're attitude." Dempsey warned with a threatening glare.

"Dempsey!" Terrador growled in disaprovement at the humans disbehavour. "You do not need to give these people any more reason to act against you. Calm yourself."

Dempsey's gut begged him to pull the trigger on the group in front of him. But it took every inch of his willpower to stop himself, he maybe a murderer, a soldier but he wasn't brainless. He lowered his weapon slightly as he looked up at the guardian.

"What should I do then? Ask them to kindly stop being aggressive towards me? You do realise there is a slim chance they'll actually do what I tell 'em right?" Dempsey questioned, Terrador growled impatently at the human but turned to face the angered group.

"This human is under our protection." Terrador began, eyeing everyone as he spoke. "He is not to be harmed. Anyone who touches him will be punished, severally!"

Everyone nodded...reluntantly...and ceased their aggressive behavour towards Dempsey. Sighing Dempsey got straight to the point and approched Cyril the crowd made a path for him to get through. He heard a few whispers and growls coming from different directions but paid them no mind.

"Cyril, I know what's happening to the villages that are allied with this city, and I also know what's happening to the scouts." Dempsey shouldered his rifle as Cyril's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh yeah, I was told. And I'm goin' after the pricks who did it." Looking back at the crowd who has gone silent when he spoke, he saw the shocked expressions of their faces.

"I need you're help." Dempsey continued turning his head to look at the ice guardian. "What do you know of the attackers?" He asked, leaning in.

Cyril looked at Volteer who whistled innocently to himself as he pretended to act like he didn't do anything. He frowned' and sighed mentally to himself.

Motioning the marine to follow him, the ice guardian regrouped with the other guardians and walked towards the market.

"There is much for us to discuss." Cyril began his tone grim. "Before I was caught off guard by those monsterous people behind us." Dempsey looked over his shoulder and saw that the crowd was dispersing. "I caught word that one of our scout groups has returned from a village that survived an attack two weeks ago."

Dempsey, Terrador and Volteer listened carefully as Cyril continued.

"I was on my way to meet them, but when those brutes appeared I have lost track of them." Cyril sighed as the four neared the market place; "This is where I saw them last."

Dempsey scanned the surrounding area and growled in frustration, this would take a while.

"Well, standing here doing nothing won't find them." Dempsey said a frown forming on his face. He turned to look at the guardians. "Cyril how long were you 'occupied'?"

"Far, far too long for my liking." Cyril snorted as he raised his head, which caused Dempsey to sigh.

Dempsey rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Ok, that actually doesn't give me an answer." Turning he looked around the market. "They couldn't have gone far though. I think splitting up would be logical here."

Dempsey looked over his shoulder. "We'll meet back here in two hours' hope you'll find 'em."

ooOOoo

Spyro turned his head when he heard someone yawn tiredly. His brows arched in surprise when a dragon who looked similar to his age, with dark blue scales and a white underbelly got on his feet. The dragon blinked, and looked around the cage he was trapped in before he sighed in disappointment. When he looked in Spyro's direction his eyes widened so far that his eyes looked like they were about to pop out. Before the dragon could say anything Spyro silently told him to "Be quiet" and beckoned him to his side. Instantly, yet slowly the dragon walked towards the purple dragon his eyes full of surprise and admiration.

"Listen," Spyro began his voice quiet. "See those three over there?" He pointed at the humans across from them with his paw, Spyro looked at the dragon to see his reaction and found he was growling. "They are not the enemy. They were captured as well, and were taken in here just moments ago."

"How do you know that?" The dragon whispered, the tone of his voice full of suspicion. "For all we know they could have been sent in here to discover more villages for them to pillage!"

Spyro concidered those words for the longest time but his train of thought was interuppted when three jailers barged through the door; nearly everyone in the room was startled and jumped up in surprise. Spyro looked at the humans across from him and was releaved to see that no one had taken notice of them, yet. Spyro narrowed his eyes when he noticed something familar about them.

"Did one of those humans call our jailers 'Apes'?" Spyro whispered mostly to himself than anyone. Looking around himself Spyro could easily tell these people feared these jailers of theirs. Even the mightist dragon and dragonesses coward before them, what on earth could have caused them to break?

One of the ape jailers who's left eye was covered by a cloth like eyepatch stood in front of the cages, his one good eye staring at everyone who had either stood at attention or had coward behind the ones in front. His gaze finally ended on the humans, and he gave them the most evil smile Spyro had ever seen' his teeth were rotten and black and his tounge was a deep blue. Leaving siliva on his rotten teeth when he licked them.

"Bring them with us. We shall see how they fair." The ape pointed at the humans which caused everyone in the room to stare at them in surprise. Those who were near them took a few steps away; mainly out of fear than for their safety.

"Miller, Polonsky you two ready for this?" Roebuck asked them quietly as a small looking ape holding a massive looking key-ring that was full of keys approched them.

"Sarge, we are always ready." Polonsky mumbled cracking his knuckles with confidence. The ape picked a rusty looking key out of the others, and placed it in the lock hole. Twisting it around the cage door opened' Miller, Polonsky and Roebuck willingly walked towards the opened entrance.

Looking at Miller, Roebuck slowly nodded his head, which signalled both him and Polonsky to begin the attack.

"Now!" Shouted Polonsky with a determined glare.

Miller was the first one out of the cage, knocking the ape to the ground Miller grabbed it by it's chest fur and began punching the ape in the face while it was caught of guard. Polonsky and Roebuck leapt over their comrade and took on their own opponents who had now drawn... pistols!

"Shit!" Miller looked up when he heard Polonsky shout out in surprise, only to see his friends running to cover with haste. His eyes nearly popped out of his sockets when he saw the apes holding pistols, the M1911 .Colt. Gritting his teeth Miller punched the ape he was on top of one last time before he bashed its head on the ground. When blood began to seep across the floor signifying that the ape was dead; he grimly searched the apes possession quickly and drew a hidden weapon. It was another .Colt, and it was fully loaded!

Smirking Miller quickly rolled away when the apes trained and fired their pistols at him forcing himself behind a wooden crate. It wouldn't hold against the metal bullets that was whistling over his head, but it would offer him some protection from the bullets. Hearing the weapons of the enemy 'click' signalling that their weapons needed reloading, Miller quickly got on his feet and aimed his .Colt at the apes.

Time seemed to slow down for everyone who was watching the event with shocked eyes. When Miller pulled the trigger the bullet's that exited the barrel of the weapon had easily found their mark, killing the two apes instantly with a shot to the forehead. Knowing that the tables have turned and the odds against him, the third and final ape attempted to flee; but Miller wasn't going to let that happen.

He took aim and rapidly fired the .Colt at the ape until it clicked, signifying that he needed to reload. He growled in frustration however as the last ape escaped him. But he was relieved that no one (except for the apes) were hurt.

"Roebuck, Polonsky get you're asses out here. We got prisoners that need rescuin' or would you rather I do all the work?" Miller called out to them with a cocky smirk.

Polonsky and Roebuck slowly came out of hiding and grabbed the pistols the dead apes had' and searched for any magazines, the prisoners merely watched as one human laughed happily and tossed something to the other two. They saw something drop out of the weapon and onto the floor, as they placed the strange object inside the weapons.

"Alright," Miller announced, a massive grin on his face. "Who wants to get out of this god-forsaken place?"

ooOOoo

"So you don't know the location of the scouts that had recently returned to this marvelous city?" Volteer quickly asked one of the many moles that was on the city walls.

Dempsey turned his gaze between Volteer and the moles, and sighed out of boredom.

A mole wearing armour made of iron and holding a spear shook his head. "Sorry guardian, but we are tasked with_ guarding_ the walls, not patrol the city."

"This is a waste of time." Dempsey muttered under his breath.

The mole looked at Dempsey with an unimpressed look. "Do you have something to say?" He looked Dempsey over which made the human raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I got something to say. In which direction did these scouts go?" He paused, and then frowned. "And stopping looking at me like that, it's creepin' me the hell out!"

The mole shrugged, causing Dempsey to sigh in frustration. "Dude, these people really need to pay attention." Dempsey said to Volteer as he pinched his nose bridge. "These people ain't goin' to help us here. Let's head towards the middle of the city."

"Hmm, I still think we should ask the moles guarding the wall." The elder dragon snorted.

"If there's anyone who seen these scouts of yours they'll be on the ground." Dempsey stretched his arms and yawned. "Might as well check it out, the more people we talk too the faster we find 'em."

Dempsey yelled out in surprise when Volteer grabbed him by the waist, spreading his wings Volteer took off towards the centre of the city.

"A little warning goes a long way ya' know!" Dempsey complained.

"I'm still angry, no, no that simply won't do. I'm still angered, yes that sounds right, by the fact that you betrayed us those months ago Dempsey. Be thankful I haven't dropped you in midair, yet."

"Ok!" Dempsey replied in defeat. "I guess I had that comin', but still! You could have warned me."

Although Dempsey couldn't see it, he was sure the electric dragon had a massive grin on his face, he was certian of it. Minutes later both human and dragon landed on the ground with a loud '_thud'_, making everyone who were near the two take a few steps back in surprise.

Volteer set Dempsey to the ground, who was holding himself for comfort as he shook uncontrollably. And Volteer who was looking at him was trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Dude, that was NOT cool!" Dempsey complained glaring at the yellow dragon as his teeth clattered against each other.

"I thought it was funny." Volteer replied bitting his bottom lip in an attempt to hold back the laughter that was willing to burst of his mouth. "And you're reaction was priceless!"

"Holding me upside down by my foot, was not funny!" Dempsey growled at the guardian. "And I was scared! Of course I would frickin' react like that!"

Sighing Dempsey went through his pockets until he found a Syrette. Pulling off the lid Dempsey stuck the needle into the side of his neck wincing as he felt a small yet sharp pain run throughout his entire neck.

"Dempsey!" Volteer shouted out, alarmed at what he was doing to himself. "What are you doing!"

"Keeping myself from losing my mind. Thank's to Richtofen; I have to apply this into my system. Stop's some '_Side Effects_' as the doc calls them, from taking over my mind." He explained; pulling the Syrette out of his neck he placed the empty needle inside his pocket; he'll need to keep it later on so Richtofen can supply him with more.

"Remember when I '_betrayed_' you in the temple months ago?"

Volteer nodded, sitting down and listening eagerly as if Dempsey was a teacher.

"Well, one of those reasons was the side effects. Lame excuse I know. And I know you'll never forgive me for that, but they were my way home. Knowing that there was a way for me to get back and try to change things in the past. It seemed to much to pass, plus you and the others were threatening my team so I sided with them. You know' support?"

Volteer nodded but something was bugging him.

"If that is true, then... why didn't you it explain to us? We would have understood their intentions."

There was a pause. Blinking a few times, as if he was deep in thought, Dempsey suddenly face-palmed himself in the forehead.

"Oh shit! I'm such an idiot. That never occoured to me..." He cursed. "I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot!" He repeated over and over and over.

Volteer gave Dempsey an amused look before getting up again, now that he knew the reason he turned on them' he felt a bit happier. He understood, survival with those he knew, in his position he would have done the same thing. But Dempsey was right about one thing, something that made Volteer grin happily.

He was an idiot.


	6. Chapter 6

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 5

The gunshots from the .Colt's echoed throughout the room as Miller and company fired a single bullet at the locks that kept the cages shut. And they weren't well made either; the locks themselves were extremely rusty. So all it took was one well-aimed shot, and the locks would break. But even if the locks were broken, the prisoners within still had their chains to be removed. The three humans had guessed their pistols wouldn't be strong enough to break the chains. And they were right, being enchanted, the only way to remove them was by special keys. By the time the humans were finished breaking the locks, Miller was gathering information from one of the prisoners, a white scaled dragoness. The leader of this whole thing would have the keys to their chains and he would even come here sometimes to mock them.

"Ok, that's bad. If the three of us head out there, we'll be fighting against superior numbers."

The dragoness nodded as Miller looked at the ground, and tried to think of a plan that could get them out of this mess.

"Don't you have other people out there looking for you?" The dragoness asked hopefully. "Surely they wouldn't abandon you!"

Miller frowned. That frown had told her help wasn't coming for them. Miller confirmed it which caused the dragoness to look away, saddened by the fact that no one was going to help them.

"That's the thing, no one knows we three are here." The human said in a grim voice. But a smile formed on his lips when he said the next sentance. "But that doesn't mean we can't break out.

Looking at Miller with hopeful eyes she asked Miller what the plan of action would be. His response to that, was a smile, a smile that said "you'll see." She shook her head allowing a smile of her own appear on her lips.

"My name is Nia, by the way." The dragoness introducted herself bowing in respect with a sincere smile.

Miller returned the jesture. "Private. Miller, at your service."

Nia curiously raise a brow at him,

"'Private.'? That's an odd name." She was surprised when Miller laughed in what she guessed was humour, but what did he find funny?

"Private. is not a name. It's a Rank, my Rank." He pointed at Polonsky and Roebuck who were talking to different coloured dragons, moles, cheetah's and wolves. "Polonsky, has the same Rank as me. And Roebuck over there is our superior, so his Rank is 'Sergeant'" Miller explained to the best of his abilities, so far Nia seemed to understand.

"Polonsky and myself are under his command, so you could say whatever he says, goes." He smile grinned even more when he turned to look at the dragoness. "Plus, the three of us are friends. We look out for each other; and we follow two simple rules that Roebuck made."

This had gotten Nia's attention. These humans had rules? What were they? What do they mean?

"What are the rules?" Nia asked sitting down quickly as if she was a child listening to a favorate story.

"There are two very simple rules," Miller began to recite what he remembered of the two rules Roebuck told his squad when he took over. "Rule one: No one fights alone." He already had his forefinger up, and then he stuck up his second finger, "Rule two: Stay together, we'll come out on top."

"Excuse me?" Miller looked down to his right when an unknown person spoke to him. To his and Nia's surprise, it was Spyro, the might purple dragon of Legend.

Much to Spyro's embrassment and Miller's confusion, Nia' began bowing before Spyro as if he was a god repeatedly saying "I am not worthy." to herself acting like Spyro was a god before her presence.

Miller pointing a thumb at a bowing Nia said; "This happen a lot to ya'?"

Spyro sighed in frustration more to himself than Nia. "Unfortunately, yes, and it get's annoying after a while." Spyro admitted as he glared at the ground. "Sometimes, I just don't want to be THE purple dragon." He muttered under his breath.

Spyro stared up at Miller when the human chuckled, appearently finding something to be funny.

"What's so funny?" Spyro asked tilting his head in confusion.

"You are the exact opposite of someone I know." Miller said with a smile. "A man, who's so famous that he became a Legend among the marines in the U.S.M.C a few years after he joined. He rather liked the attention he received from us, and wouldn't hesitate to put us in our place when we stepped out of line."

"I know him." Roebuck joined the conversation' which caused the two marines and friends to stare at each other with huge smiles on their faces. "One of the finest men the two of us ever knew." Roebuck and Miller turned to face Spyro and Nia who were staring up at the humans with wide eyes.

"He is quite the marine, saved our asses on several occasions." Miller's smile then faded into a frown, remembering the soldier that he had never seen for a long time. For all he knew, he could be dead right now.

"It was rather strange really, the guy looked exactily like Polonsky, the only difference between the two was both their voice and personality. Plus he had more muscles than our friend' and no one messed with him, no one messed with 'The Tank'." Miller mused; looking upwards as he tried to remember the said person.

When Miller said "The Tank" that had gotten a reaction out of the purple dragon, but instead of saying anything he kept quiet, he needed to know if the one he knew and the one they were talking about were one and the same. Just in case.

"Who exactily was 'The Tank'? What sort of person was he? Was he kind?" The amount of questions Nia asked made both Roebuck and Miller raise their brows in surprise, she showed a high level of curiousity towards the humans, which was something the two marines weren't expecting.

"The Tank, is a human like us." Miller said as he pointed at himself and his superior. "A soldier, mess with him and you'll have you're guts missing." Miller joked, Spyro and Nia looked disgusted at the last words.

"What Miller means: If you mess with The Tank, you won't have the guts to stand up to him." Roebuck corrected his friend; he saw the look of relief Spyro and Nia gave and took that as a sign they dodged a bullet. "He can be a good fellow, it's just when he's pissed off you want to stay out of his way."

"But there has to be a way out of here!" Polonsky shouted in dismay.

Spyro, Nia, Roebuck and Miller turned their heads and saw Polonsky talking to a few cheetahs, moles and wolves. The dragons were staying clear from him maybe because he looked very similar to a human they thought was dead.

"I'm sorry human, but with those acursed apes and ancestors-knows what lying in wait outside' none of us will would stand much of a chance against them. Becides, we're stuck in here until we get the keys that will unlock these chains. With them on, we're nearly useless to you, unless you prefer for us to fight up close and personal."

"Actually that's not true." Roebuck and Miller interrputed the chat between the group. Polonsky gave Roebuck a respectful salute as he approched, and the Sergent gladly returned it. When the two humans were gathered in front of the group on animals; Roebuck continued.,

"One of us can go out there recover our weapons and get back here without alerting the guards. The remaining two can hold the fort here, just to make sure those furry bastards-"

"Hey!" Cried out a orange furred cheetah, clearly insulted from Roebuck's speech.

"Sorry!" He appologed. "But still, two of us need to remain here to make sure those shit-for-brains don't try to rush the building. We got about two magazines between the three of us; so if you fire, make every shot count."

"Man, I just wish help was nearby." Polonsky complained distraught by their new situation.

Fortunately for them help was closer than they thought, using the invisibility crystal that hung from his neck' Zoidius was able to sneak into the enemy controlled village without being seen. Crutching down and keeping his wings tucked and tail close, Zoidius watched as three large apes covered entirely in black and red armour walked passed the startled black dragon. The first one carried a sword that had a red aura surrounding the blade, the second carried a massive staff that had a multiple coloured orb entwined with wood that bloomed with magic. And the third carried a deadly looking advanced weapon that he had never seen before on it's shoulder, it looked alien to the dragon.

There was four holes at the front of the weapon, four long tubes were at the rear of the weapon. Just one look of that thing and Zoidius knew immeditally that thing was a weapon of destruction. The humans needed to know about this! And fast! Just as he was about to get out of there and tell his current human allies, he stopped when one of the large apes began asking questions about the recent events.

"What in Malefor's name happened here? Did the prisoner's riot?" The ape with the sword snarled menicingly at the assembled group.

No one was brave enough to reply, five minutes later the ape that had managed to escape the small firefight inside slave building bravely stepped forward. The ape leader grunted, allowing the ape to speak.

"No sir!" The shaken ape replied as he tried look in the eyes of the larger ape in front of him. "The hairless creatures we captured not long ago had caught my group off guard. Their now armed with the strange looking weapons we've found on their possession, and they seem to know how to use them better than we do."

The large ape growled in disappointment' and in one swift move, he decapitated his subordinate. Zoidius nearly screamed when the head rolled in front of his face. The body fell to the ground moments later, the blood seeping out of the decapitated neck, Zoidius who muzzle was inches from the head of the dead ape in front of him slowly took a few steps back.

"No one had better disappoint me again. Or you'll end up like him!" The ape walked to the severed head, picked it up and stuck it on the tip of his sword, the blood running down the blade.

The apes quickly nodded as they looked away, none dared to stare up at him. Zoidius however was staring at the sword with great interest. The red aura around the blade seemed to glow brighter when the placed placed the severed head on top of the blade.

It took a few moments for Zoidius to discover what that blade does.

"Oh no." He whispered his eyes wide. "It's blood-thirst!" Zoidius said fearfully.

Reading long abadoned scrolls and books on magical artifacts from abadoned libraries gave Zoidius a lot of knowledge of magical weapons that were forgotten long ago. Blood-thirst was one such weapon that has been lost, or was. This sword makes the user stronger everytime the blade is touched by blood, or slays a foe, the last wielder who was said to be an unknown creature (Zoidius figured it was a human) was in a final battle between his kind and the undead. Although he slew thousands upon thousands of undead, he eventually fell to their overwelming numbers and the sword was lost.

Until now that is.

Zoidius then took a glance at the staff. While the staffs orb had multiple colours within it, he was sure it was powerful; it didn't have the aura similar to Blood-thirst's but looks can be deciving. For all he knew it could control the elements the staff comes in contact with; or it could make the breaths the dragons use useless, forcing them to attack close and personal.

The weapon that the third ape had, was something he had never seen before, it wasn't in the scrolls or books he discovered on his travels. And a weapon that was unknown to him was worrying. Hopefully the humans that are waiting for him would know about that particular weapon.

"Kong!" The ape with the sword shouted. "You are going to stay here and over-see the troops here, make sure this riot doesn't turn into a rebellion! Kill them if you have too!"

The third ape nodded and began to direct the ape forces into positions. Zoidius knowing what was going to happen decided it was time to regroup with the humans. Spreading out his wings, Zoidius flapped them and took to the sky immeditally after, the apes that were nearby felt the strong breeze Zoidius made push against their fur.

"Did you feel that?" A weaponless ape asked looking around.

"Bah! It's just a breeze, nothing more, nothing less!" Another grunted, snorting before running his fingers through the hair on his arms.

ooOOoo

Takeo scanned the area down below for Zoidius through his binoculars. While he has been away for a short time, he wanted to make sure that the dragon wasn't in trouble. Richtofen lay against the rock they were hiding behind, the viser of his cap completely covering his eyes as he rested. Nikolai being bored of doing nothing was taking small sips of Vodka from his bottle he took out from his sack. But all that changed when they heard a soft _'Thud'_ nearby.

Richtofen quickly unslinged his MP40, while Takeo unslung his AK74u. Nikolai however was too drunk to notice, until Takeo smacked him on the back of his head, causing the Soviet to spit out the remaining Vodka he was drinking from his mouth, before coughing profoundedly.

"What was that for!" Nikolai demanded.

Richtofen shushed the Soviet by glaring menicingly at him. Gulping Nikolai quickly placed the cap on his Vodka and put the bottle in his sack. He then made a grab for his AK47 when a black paw stepped on it. Pushing himself back in surprise Nikolai was about to yell out when Takeo covered his mouth with his hand.

"Ah! You've returned to us Herr Zoidius!" Richtofen said with a happy smile. Sense when did Richtofen let out a happy smile?

"Yeah." Zoidius replied in a grim voice. "I've scouted the area, and I've got bad news."

The humans listened carefully as Zoidius told them what he saw, from the army of apes; to the weapons they had and even their leaders. He even told them that one of them had an advanced monstrosity of a weapon, similar to theirs but wider, and thicker. Richtofen, Takeo and Nikolai looked at each other and nodded.

"Seems to me, zhey may have a Panzershrek, or a veapon similar to zat." Richtofen said slowly rubbing the barrel of his MP40.

"What's a 'Panzershrek'?" Zoidius asked confused about the weapon they spoke of.

"A weapon that fires large explosive like projectiles." Nikolai answered; showing the knowledge he had contained within his messed up brain. "It is capable of destroying buildings, armoured vehicles and lastly. Large amount of soldiers within seconds."

"But this weapon you spoke of is very different in design, it may fire exprosives' but none of us know how deadry it is in battre." Takeo countered, his accent mispronucing the L's in his words.

"Ze only vay for us to know vhat it is like, is for us to see it in battle." Richtofen added. Takeo and Nikolai nodded in agreement.

Zoidius didn't have time to speak. Before he could open his mouth the three humans quickly yet steathfully made their way down the hill as they brefly scanned their surroundings. Takeo was on point, being the one to lead them he was give them orders through sign languige' it was very useful when you didn't want to whisper, or give away your position to the enemy.

Zoidius switched his gaze from Takeo, to Richtofen and lastly to Nikolai and saw they were trained for this sort of thing. He would see Takeo make jestures with his hand, which confused him but Nikolai and Richtofen seemed to understand. A possible way of communicating perhaps? Maybe he'll find out more about them when this is all over, when they'll settle down and actually talk somewhere safe.

When the human in front held up his right hand, the two behind him quickly stopped. Zoidius followed their example, then they got on their bellies and began to crawl the rest of the way. At first Zoidius curiously tilted his head; wondering why they were doing something this ridiculous. Then it hit him. They were using the grass as cover. They were much larger than him and they looked the same size of some of the apes. They were going to use the element of surprise. Zoidius cracked a smile at this, these humans were resourceful; and that could be useful in the future.

The Imperial Army Of Japan had mostly fought in jungles against the marines of the United States. And they used the environment around them to their advantage; luring the unknowing marines into an ambush until it's too late for them to turn back. Takeo had taken part in most of these battles and his leadership had led his men to victory after victory. But slowly the Americans gained ground, inch by inch, but the imfamous ambushes of the Japanese had broken their will to fight on. At least for a while.

This was why the Imperials were feared, they never surrendered, they never gave up even in the face of defeat. And they would often do honourable sucidal charges shouting "BANZAI!" as they ran to their eventual deaths. Those who were lucky were able to crash into the American lines and slaughtered a lot of them; but their combined fire-power was enough to keep the Japanese at bay.

For particular battle Takeo was going to use the environment, and use the darkness that loomed over them to take the apes out one by one. Takeo looked over his shoulder in an attempt to see if Nikolai and Richtofen were behind him, of course with the grass and the night surrounding him it was difficult to see. He quickly turned his head to his left and saw Richtofen lying there, using the restraint he had to stop himself from pulling the trigger. Looking to his right he saw Nikolai in the same position as Richtofen and himself. He stared critically at the Soviet he was still pissed' from the Vodka he had but he looked sober enough to actually fire straight. He hoped.

"Zoidius!" Takeo whispered through gritted teeth. "Where are you?"

"I'm behind you; don't worry." Zoidius whispered in responce. Takeo didn't reply.

Takeo slowly observed the area; there was a few small rocks, logs, stumps and buildings to take cover behind' but their too far away. If they give away their position then they'll have their way to the prisoners. They couldn't risk it, there was too much at stake here' but when Takeo said he was going to make someone pay. He meant it.

Takeo got onto his knees to get a better look at his surroundings; there was a medium sized ape just a few meters in front of him. If they kept moving they wouldn't have crawled right into it, Takeo inhaled a deep breath and slung his AK74u over his shoudler before unsheathing his combat knife that was strapped just over his right boot. With the knife in hand, Takeo twirled the knife before gripping the tilt' making the blade face left. He moved steathfully through the grass as the distance between him and the ape shortened' his knife cutting through the air as he raised it slightly.

Reaching out, Takeo quickly covered the apes mouth, stopping the animal from shouting out in alarm' wrapping his other arm around the animal's chest, Takeo used all the strength he possessed and dragged the ape to the ground. Without hesitation Takeo raised his knife and stabbed the ape in the heart. Takeo saw the fear in its eyes, and he smirked in satisfaction as he felt the animal's body go stiff. When he was sure the ape was dead he pulled his knife out of the corpse and rubbed the blade on the apes fur, removing the blood that covered it.

Without another word Takeo gave the four behind him a thumbs up. Looking over his shoulder Richtofen motioned Nikolai to follow him; and without question Nikolai followed. Both Soviet and Nazi had separated from the group' as they went in the opposite direction, Zoidius noticed them and was about to tell Takeo, until he saw that the Jap was also looking in the direction Richtofen and Nikolai vanished. He didn't seem to be bothered by their separation, now that Zoidius thought of it, he didn't show any worry or distress of anykind. It was as if they did this sort of thing a lot.

"Zoidius." Takeo said in a whisper. The black dragon looked at the Imperial who had his Assault Rifle resting on his legs. "We wirr be arong for now. We must do this quietry."

The dragon made a silent growl; he didn't like being ordered around. In fact, he hated it! But he knew there were innocent people at stake, so he would have to let this one slide; for now. Takeo motioned Zoidius to follow as he quietly moved through the grass, without asking questions Zoidius followed.

Meanwhile as Richtofen and Nikolai took a different direction they found an ape and two baboons in front of a building. They carried swords and shields, and they had very little to no protection on their body. The very sight and the smell of them together was enough to make Richtofen gag in disgust. The two silently walked towards the side of the building the apes were at, and pressed their backs onto the wall. From the cover they were at, they could easily see them talking to each other. Although with the grunts and monkey noises they were making, it was very hard to make out what they were saying. Suddenly Richtofen patted Nikolai on the arm making the Soviet look at Richtofen with a curious stare.

Richtofen used his sign languige._"We need to bring them to us!"_

The Russian seemed to understand because he was looking around on the floor for something. Richtofen stared with a smile when Nikolai found a small but sharp looking rock; they'll catch their attention with this! Looking at the Nazi who nodded, Nikolai peeked from his cover and tossed the rock at the apes; managing to hit one on the back of the animals head.

"Ow!" An ape shouted out in surprise.

Richtofen covered his mouth as he laughed and, stopped immeditally as they apes approched. Slinging his SMG over his shoulder Richtofen drew his combat knife' and held it closely to his chest. Nikolai had the same thought in mind as he quickly drew a combat knife of his own.

"Remember," Richtofen said in a whisper. "Ve must capture one alive to know vhat ve are dealing vith."

"Da, I agree." Nikolai replied. Richtofen nodded, even is Nikolai had his back turned to him.

When the apes walked past them Nikolai immeditally pounced on them. Managing to knock one of them to the ground, before the ape could defend himself Nikolai plunged his knife into the apes neck, making the ape gurgle on it's own blood. And at the same time Richtofen leapt over Nikolai and slashed an ape on the throat, making it drop its weapons and grab its neck in it's vain attempt to make the blood stop pouring out.

It fell to the ground moments later, dead. The last ape who had the attention of the humans attempted to flee. That was until Richtofen picked up a medium sized rock and threw it at the ape. Richtofen quietly laughed in victory when the rock collied with it's head, causing the ape to fall to the ground face first.

"Step one: over and done vith." Richtofen announced in relief. Nikolai mumbled in agreement before rolling the ape on it's back.

The two then cracked their knuckles, time for them to gather some information from this animal.


	7. Chapter 7

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 6

Takeo impaled an unsuspecting ape in the back with his Katana while he used his other hand to cover the apes mouth, to prevent the animal from screaming. Looking to his left he saw Zoidius swiftly disarm an ape with his tail blade before decapitating it, there was a look of satisfaction on his face as he stared at his headless corpse. Takeo didn't know if it was because of Zoidius's own bloodlust or that he really hated their guts. Either way this dragon has shown to him that he can hold his own if attacked, but still they were in enemy territory they had to weaken them without them suspecting.

Takeo knelt down and searched the bodies for anything that he deemed would be useful with Zoidius looking over him, he felt his hand touch something, something rough. Gripping it Takeo pulled out his hand and stared at what he found, it was a large crumbled up peice of paper. Takeo immediately took an interest in it while Zoidius merely snorted in distain. Thinking the paper would be useless to them, but he didn't have the experience Takeo had however, to the Imperial officer anything can be useful. Anything can be a weapon.

As he straightened out the paper it turned out to be a map, a map of the whole village; the building locations, the routes the patrols would take, everything was on it. As he stood up Takeo walked to Zoidius and showed him the map. At first Zoidius didn't know what Takeo wanted him to do, but after spending ten or twenty seconds examining the thing his eyes widened.

"This, this is the map of the entire village." Zoidius looked up at the Imperial who nodded with a grim expression.

"They were werr prepared for this attack." Takeo said as he folded the map. He then placed the map in one of his pouches and looked back at the corpses. "What do you know of these... Monkeys?"

Zoidius told the human about the Dark Master; who was also known as Malefor one of the Legendary Purple Dragons that would only come after ten generations. Takeo listened carefully as Zoidius told him that the purple dragon had the ability to control every element in existence and others that none would have thought possible. Takeo noticed that Zoidius was restraining himself, a lot as he told him this. He made a note in his head to ask Zoidius about this.

After Malefor learnt all of the elements, the dragon elders realised that his power was umlimited and had consumed everything. After that he was banished. Zoidius didn't know what happened after that, but he told the human that Malefor eventaully raised an army of apes the apes that was in the village they were in now, and with this army Malefor set about a series of events that would send the dragon population into dispair causing entire armies full of dragons to retreat until they had nowhere left to go.

After that Zoidius stopped and Takeo understood, an entire destruction of an entire race? All that for power? Greed is the worst enemy you could ever face in life.

"Your peopre have faced many perirs in life, your kind now have my respect young Zoidius." Takeo bowed.

Zoidius blinked in surprise and awkwardly thanked Takeo, who in turn smiled with amusement. He then said with a serious tone "This however does not bode well." Which gained Takeo a confused look from Zoidius.

Sighing Takeo tried to explain if the apes were the enemies, how did they discover the locations and routes. And how were they able to attack effectively?

"They could have been spying for some time. And wrote everything down."

Takeo shook his head and took and unfolded the map before showing it to Zoidius again. "No. This map shows the virrage in great detair. It is likely there was a spy within the virrage itserf."

"A spy!" Zoidius hissed loudly in rage, Takeo put a finger to his lips telling Zoidius to keep his voice down.

"Why would someone want to help them? They caused us nothing but trouble and death in the past!"

"The hearts of others are arways tainted by darkness Zoidius. The betrayar of those crosest to you strikes deep, and hard. However, whomever herped them might have been promiced something in return." Takeo paused to inhale some air before continuing. "Power, Wearth or perhaps both. It is uncertain."

Zoidius stared at Takeo in a new light' he encountered dragons in the past that spoke the way Takeo does but this human seemed to have more experience. Are these humans soldiers? His train of thought was broken when Takeo called out to him, maybe he'll learn more about them when this is all over.

Nikolai and Richtofen dragged their prisoner to a secluded area where they tied the apes arms and legs together, it turned out that Nikolai had rope consealed within his sack ever sense they were in Japan and had forgotten about it. Richtofen was actually pleased with his forgetfulness for once, because it saved them from having to restrain the prisoner once it wakes up. The two sat down on a few boulders and watched the ape for the longest while, waiting for it to wake up.

The two perked up when the ape began to stir and moan, expectedly the ape woke up and slowly realised that it's arms and legs were bind together. Getting onto his feet Richtofen slowly approched the ape and with his boot he rolled the ape onto it's back so the animal was looking up at him.

All the ape could see was someone who looked like the hairless creatures they captured a while ago, only this one wore different clothing than them. Black pants with a single red stripe running down the sides, blood covered black boots' an olive jacket with blood and dirt mixed together' black gloves and strange looking headwear that consealed his eyes. The sight of him frightened the ape.

"You vill tell me vhat I vish to know." Richtofen said in a threatening manner.

The ape laughed bitterly at the Nazi, "And if I don't?"

Richtofen pulled out his combat knife and examaned it, he gazed over to Nikolai who pulled out his own combat knife and tossed it to him. Richtofen caught the blade's tilt with little difficulty and looked at the ape again; who was gazing back at Richtofen and Nikolai nervously.

Nikolai stood up and placed a foot in the middle of the apes chest and slowly added pressure on it. "He has his ways." Nikolai snarled. "Like removing an eye or two!"

Richtofen laughed as he held his knife to the monkey's throat adding pressure to it but made sure there wasn't enough pressure to draw blood. He wanted to frighten the ape into submission. But if it was going to resist Richtofen would be forced to gather information his own way, and it wasn't going to be pleasant for the victim.

The ape glared at them both with hate burning within its eyes. Nikolai and Richtofen weren't bothered by this however. Richtofen wanted to interrogate the ape himself and kindly asked Nikolai to remove his foot.

"Fine." The Soviet sighed but glared at the ape with a furious snarl. "But you had better talk, or things will not look good." He said in a threatening manner.

The ape scoffed at Nikolai as he walked away so he didn't notice. Richtofen grabbed the ape by the legs and dragged it away as it cried out in surprise, it wasn't long until the two were out of sight and Nikolai was left to his own devices.

One hour later...

Nikolai was sorting out the contents of his sack, seperating the equipment that he needed and ones that were close to useless. He sighed in boredom as a seperated his food, water, Vodka and stuff in seperate groups. He still had that peice of meat for Dempsey as well, and the cloth was doing a good enough job at keeping the dirt and grime away. Hearing someone approch he quickly grabbed his grabbed his AK47 flicked off the safty and aimed it where the person was coming from. He lowered the weapon when Richtofen came into view his entire jacket and face drenched in fresh blood and there was a look of satisfaction on his face. Nikolai knew that kind of look, Richtofen would only show it if he spilt blood; or killed someone. Maybe both.

"Vell, zat vas rather amusing!" Richtofen squeeked like a child. "Ze blood vhen it sprayed across mien face vas of satisfactory!"

"Did you get the information?" Nikolai questioned with impatence.

"Ja, unfortunitaly ze ape impaled itself on mien blade before I could ask more." Richtofen frowned as he held the blade to his face. But he smiled after a moment. "At least I could feel its blood on mien face, so I'm happy!" He laughed clapping his hands like an excited child.

Nikolai felt a chill run down his entire spine and shivered uncomfortably at the thought of a deformed ape in his mind. He didn't like these animals as they constantly reminded him of the monkey bomb, a toy that had three strips of dinimite strapped onto it's back. They would wind the thing up and throw it away' distracting everyone that was attacking with its annoying music.

Dempsey, Takeo and Richtofen loved that stupid toy but not Nikolai oh no. The dam thing creeped the hell out of him with it's wide eyes and white teeth...

To keep the thought of the toy monkey from his mind Nikolai distracted himself by asking what had Richtofen done to the ape when it commited suicide. The answer left a mental image in Nikolai's brain.

"Oh I completely dismembered ze creature. First I removed its eyes, and zhen I severed its tongue ze blood was fresh and I HAD to completely cover mien face with it. And then I severed it's arms, and yanked ze bone from it's sockets." He took a breath as his face lit up in excitement of the memory. "Then I removed its legs!" He squeeked.

Nikolai had been staring at Richtofen with mixed expressions. His face showing both disgust and shock at the discription. When Richtofen got close to the end Nikolai felt he was going to be sick but he kept the feeling down though he would barp as he covered his mouth.

"...Ze display zat I created made me feel so HAPPY!"

"I think I will throw up..." The Soviet complained.

Richtofen laughed and slapped the Russian on the back, the force behind it had easily knocked the wind out of him. Nikolai stumbled forward before regaining his footing; moments later he fell to his hands and knees and threw up on the ground.

"You vern't kidding." Richtofen said with an amused voice. Nikolai snarled at him.

"Richtofen, I hate your fucking guts!"

"I like you too Russian."

"Fuck you!"

ooOOoo

Polonsky's been spying on the apes outside for a while from the main door and saw that the enemy were in a state of panic if you could call it one. Apes were running around swords, spears and bows but three or four of them were using the M1A1 Carbines, B.A.R's and Thompsons they 'scavanged' from Roebucks team when they were ambushed. They were rather disorganised as well there was at least one large ape out there that held some kind of rocket launcher in its hands, and it was surrounded by three medium sized apes that were covered in armour.

"Ok one large ape and three medium sized ones that are covered in armour is guarding it." Polonsky said to no one. "And lots and lots and small apes running around." He added, watching the weakest apes running around and banging into each other.

Turning Polonsky announced to the others who were behind him that "If anyone goes out there without proper firepower, they'll be cut down in seconds." Their reaction was expected to Polonsky, anger, denial, acceptance but he ingored them as he looked outside. He could hear Miller, Roebuck and a few others trying to keep the others quiet, with all the noise around him Polonsky couldn't hear the dying screams nearby; he did see the apes walk out of his line of sight.

"Guys! Something is going on out there. Most of those freaks are leaving their positions!" Polonsky shouted.

Roebuck, Miller, Spyro, Nia and those who were closest to the marine walked beside and behind him. Polonsky side-stepped so Roebuck could take a look and he did see that a lot of the apes were now gone' but they were still outnumbered and he wasn't ready to risk the remains of his team, and friends, to go out there. Suddenly there was a series of explosions nearby followed by a large amount of apes screaming in agony. Roebuck saw a few apes fall to the ground in front of the building with their limbs blown off with peices of shrapnel sticking out of their body.

One ape was lying on its stomach with a single peice of metal sticking out of its forehead. Roebuck forced him and everyone around him to back away from the door as he, Miller and Polonsky aimed their .Colt's at the door. Only there was no one there. Seconds later the door closed with a _'SLAM' _causing everyone in the room to jump in surprise.

Nervously Spyro stepped in front of the humans and sniffed the air for anything that he didn't recognise, he took a few steps in surprise when the unexpected appearence of a black dragon was in front of him.

The dragon stared at everyone in the room curiously noticing the humans who had their pistols still aimed at him but ignored it. Spyro knew the dragon was a male because he had a similar build to him; but he took notice of a vicous scar on his face that went from his left eye to his snout.

The black dragon's eyes lit up when he realised he found the prisoners.

"Oh finally! It's about frickin' time I found you all!" The dragon said happily. Everyone stared at the dragon with a dumb found look on their face.


	8. Chapter 8

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 7

By the end of the day the search for the scouts that had arrived in Warfang has been successful, but it left Dempsey both tired and fed up with all the walking and searching he had to go through with Volteer. He liked the electric guardian's company but sometimes his constant talking would annoy even the calmest person in the entire world. Sadly Dempsey was never calm.

"It's about frickin' time!" Dempsey said through his teeth. He sat in front of some steps to let his legs rest. "My feet are killing me!" Lifting one leg over the other Dempsey tried to rub his foot through his boot. And when he was done he did the same with the other.

Volteer, Cyril and Terrador and the scouts (being made out of cheetah's and dragons) blankly stared at Dempsey. He could feel them looking at him but he ignored their stares, he winced when he felt a sharp pain in the heel of his foot.

"Ah!" He gasped. "Shit, I got to take these off." Looking up Dempsey saw Cyril giving Dempsey a curious look, while Terrador gave him a suspicious glance. Volteer was merely staring at him. Dempsey felt a bit nervous with them staring at him and Volteer seemed to notice it as he distracted the others.

"So what have you scouts discovered about the attacks on our allies?" The yellow dragon quickly asked the scouts.

"Not much. As before they attacked during the night but were barely fought off; whoever is doing this are using weapons similar to the human." A white stripped cheetah answered; his gaze focusing on Dempsey.

"Hey! If you're saying that humans are attacking these villages, then I don't blame 'em." Dempsey growled harshly at the cheetah.

Cyril frowned at Dempsey's words. And he figured Dempsey had something else to say and he was right.

"If these attackers are actual humans; don't you people even stop to **think** about why their doing this?" Dempsey continued as he stared at everyone around him including the guardians down. "How many people in this city of yours did you actually announce the 'death' of my team and I?" The marine asked looking at Terrador while putting on his boots.

"Only those who were with us. Including Spyro and Cynder." The earth guardian admitted. "And several others were informed weeks later." He further added.

"Then don't you think someone could have spread rumours? Rumours that eventually found their way to a race that was supposed to be 'long forgotten'." Dempsey paused to let them ponder at the question. "Maybe they got pissed at you and decided to get some payback. Yea' know: An Eye for an Eye."

"So these people are attacking us for revenge at you're supposed 'death'?" A yellow dragoness from the scouts asked with raised brows.

"Possibly. Or they could be something else entirely; like an old enemy for example. Unfortunately, like you said: They never left anything behind. So there's no way to be sure." Dempsey rubbed his beard as he looked at the ground thinking of possible clues to the attackers identity, maybe the village these scouts travelled saw them before the attack?

"Hey, did you happen to ask anyone what these attackers looked like? Did you search around for anything strange or out of place there?" Dempsey questioned the scouts. When they shook their heads Dempsey cursed, so that was out of the question.

"How far is this village you went too?" Volteer butted in before anyone could and he easily answered Dempsey's question.

"For someone your size it would be two weeks, but for us dragons it would merely take twenty-four hours. For cheetahs if it depends on them travelling on a mount of course, it would be thirty-six hours."

"Two weeks?" Dempsey asked crossing his arms. Volteer nodded.

"So why does it take twenty four hours for your people?" Dempsey tilted his head with a curious look on his face. "

Cyril grinned widely at the question before he and Volteer spread their wings. Terrador shook his head with a small smile.

"We can fly of course!" Cyril answered with a smug expression.

Dempsey of course stood there staring at the two guardians as an evil slowly formed on his lips. Terrador raised his brows in suspicion Dempsey had something planned in his mind, and Terrador guessed he wasn't going to like it.

Terrador, Cyril, Volteer and the assembled scouts have flown onto the north side of the city walls; as the dragons landed both Dempsey and Cheetah's got off their 'rides' and stretched their limbs. Terrador was fuming when Dempsey told them his plan, and Terrador of course didn't like it' and had a grumpy expression on his face because of it.

"So how far is this village you went too anyway?" Dempsey turned to face the group behind him.

"About, 400 leagues west of here. We left a week ago and stayed in the village for seven days and six nights trying to uncover information about the attack." A cheetah replied with a frown. "We didn't find anything. It was clean, too clean' we couldn't find anything that could help us."

Dempsey sighed if they didn't find anything what was the chance of him getting anything? That was until a thought came to him. "You said that these attackers used weapons, similar weapons to mine right?" He asked his eyes darting from animal to animal.

Terrador gave Dempsey a strained expression, "What are you getting at Dempsey?" The earth guardian asked with suspicion.

Dempsey unslung his M14 removed the magazine from the bottom of the rifle and ejected a bullet shell from the magazine and placed it in the palm of his hand before planting the putting the magazine into his rifle. Everyone curiously stared at the bullet that lay unmoving in the palm of his hand when he opened it.

"This is a bullet every weapon I use has them; one well placed shot can instantly kill a man." He looked up at the dragon with a dark smile. "Or a dragon. When the weapon is fired a shell will eject, like so."

Turning Dempsey lifted his rifle with both hands and took aim at a wall a small distance away. Closing one eye and making sure no one was in his line of fire Dempsey pulled the trigger in rapid succession. A small flash and smoke emerged from the barrel of the rifle while three shells were automatically ejected. Everyone stepped away in surprise as Dempsey knelt down and carefully grabbed an empty shell from the ground and held it up with two fingers.

"This is a shell casing." He announced as he shown them the shell. "If they have weapons like this rifle in my hand, or any other kind of weapon that is similar then it's likely they'll still be on the ground after the attack. That is if these guys are dumb enough to leave 'em there." Dempsey said smiling at them.

He then handed the shell to one of the cheetah's who began examining it with a critical eye who then passed it to someone else. Eventually the cheetah who held the shell ended up showing it to the dragons, to Dempsey's disappointment none of them recognised it which told him they were very careful. That was until Volteer had gotten a closer look at it.

"By the ancestors! I never thought I'd see one of these strange and fascinating contraptions again!" Volteer said with excitement before sniffing the bullet shell. "And it seems recently used too."

Everyone gave Volteer a dumbfounded stare for a while. "What?" Volteer asked innocently.

"Dude, I just fired my rifle like five minutes ago. Of course it would be recently used." Dempsey responded still giving the yellow dragon the stare.

"Oh my bad." Volteer replied nervously. Dempsey palmed his forehead before he started laughing in amusement.

"So does everyone remember the plan?" Dempsey asked his tone going from kind to serious almost immediately.

"How could we not." Terrador growled in protest. "You want us to fly you over there!"

"Well Volteer did say 'you can fly' so I thought 'why not?'." Dempsey replied with a cocky smirk. "Besides, the sooner I do this the better."

Turning Dempsey walked towards the ledge of the wall and leaned against it' the sun was going down and if these people attack during the night then it's only a matter of time before it happens again. Time was against him. He knew this. He didn't know why but Dempsey had a gut feeling that he should head north; and he mostly went with his gut as it had gotten him and his team out of desperate situations. Volteer noticed there was something wrong and stared into the distance.

"I have a feeling something bad is happening to the north." Dempsey growled as he slowly turned his head. "Are there any villages up there?"

"Indeed there is! A very small village a few miles away from here. Why if we fly there now we would get there within fifty minutes." Cyril answered.

Dempsey thoughtfully rubbed his chin before looking back again. Maybe it's time for him to take action now rather than later...

"Can you fly me there now?" He kindly asked Cyril.

"Of course."

"Good.'Cos that's where I'm going." Dempsey said effectively putting an end to the conversation.

ooOOoo

Takeo hacked and slashed his way through the apes with his katana the moment his cover was blown. The gunfire coming from the AK47 and MP40 was heard throughout the village followed by a series of explosions soon after. It wasn't long ago that Zoidius suggested or rather persuaded Takeo to allow him to scout around for the missing villagers; and minutes after Zoidius separated from him this happened! Takeo leapt into cover behind a building when a group of apes came into view, thankfully they never saw him.

Knowing that stealth was long gone Takeo sheathed his sword and unslung his AK74u and pressed his back against the wall. He lean forward and observed the apes, they were highly disorganised and were spread out greatly. Takeo lowered his head, the beak of his cap covering his eyes as he tightened his grip on the assault rifle until his knuckles whitened. He noticed there was at least one medium sized ape in the group while the rest of them were small. Takeo guessed the medium sized ape was the group leader. He'd bet his life on it. Takeo lifted his weapon and took aim at the leader, using the darkness and his position to his advantage they never seen the attack coming.

The apes turned in surprise when a loud 'tat, tat, tat' came out of nowhere. The ape leader fell to the ground with a large chunk of its back head blown off. Brain matter and blood was spread across the ground before the dead monkey fell. As they rushed to their leader the apes heard the strange 'tat, tat, tat' sound again, only this time there were many. The apes fell to the ground one by one as they felt something tear their bodies apart, limbs being ripped from their sockets, their torso's ripped open with everything inside exposed guts, bones and intestines flying in all directions as a mist of red covered them.

Takeo wasted no time in reloading his weapon. Taking out the magazine from his assault rifle and tossed it aside Takeo opened one of his pouches and went through it for a replacement. He smiled as he pulled out a new magazine and attached it to his AK74u pulling a lever to seal it in place. Without hesitation Takeo stepped into the open keeping his weapon trained on the apes that were piled up on the floor; he lowered his weapon slightly as he lightly kicked one of the apes in the side. It didn't move.

He gave the corpses a look of disgust before walking over them. He stopped and got down on one knee when he heard someone coming he quickly raised his weapon but lowered it again when Richtofen and Nikolai came into view, both were panting heavily and were leaning against each other for support.

The two looked at Takeo with smiles on their faces and looked at the pile of corpses behind him.

"Vell, looks like Takeo took care of zhem for us." Richtofen laughed. Takeo merely frowned as he strolled towards them.

"Well we didn't kill them in time. Richtofen, you owe me more vodka!" Nikolai said before coughing uncontrollably.

Richtofen looked down at the soviet with concern. He maybe an incurable sociopath and loves killing things when he could but that doesn't mean he wasn't completely insane. Nikolai was considered to be Richtofen's friend mainly because the two are more friendly with each other than with Takeo and Dempsey' and they usually fight side by side when they were separated with the other two. You could say the two were almost like...Brothers.

Richtofen looked around and noticed they were one short. Zoidius wasn't with the Jap.

"Vhere is ze scaled creature zat vas vith you Takeo?"

"He 'convinced' me to arrow him to scout for the prisoners." Takeo shrugged uncaringly. "Then this happened." He added gesturing to their surroundings.

"Vell, let us find ze creature again vhile killing those who stand against us!" Both Richtofen and Nikolai quickly reloaded their weapons. Richtofen smirked and glanced at Nikolai who looked at his German friend and nodded.

"We have demon monkeys to kill!" Nikolai declared as he punched the air.

Zoidius meanwhile tilted his head when he saw three humans pointing their pistols at him, they didn't seem to wear the clothing the other humans had, but these ones wore light green. Plus they had two metal tags hanging from their necks; Zoidius guessed these humans were from a different faction. After all he did learn a few things about humans during his travels and one of them were the different factions. But he couldn't remember the names...

Roebuck, Miller and Polonsky looked at each other before turning their gaze back onto the black dragon in front of them. He seemed to be friendly enough but they knew looks can be deceiving.

"Who are you?" Roebuck asked with suspicion. Zoidius gave Roebuck a friendly smile before taking a bold step towards them.

"I'm a friend. And I'm here to help." The black dragon answered with a toothy grin.

"Well," Roebuck started as he lowered his weapon, Miller and Polonsky had done the same. "We do need the help. These people are chained but our weapons can't break 'em. They say it's enchanted and only the leader who captured us has the key."

"Thing is, we're heavily outnumbered." Polonsky grimly added as Zoidius walked into the dark room' before using his tail blade to shut the door. "And if one of us goes out there without the proper equipment will be cut down within seconds." Polonsky sighed as he looked at his .Colt. "This pistol is the only weapon we have right now. And we three have only got one clip."

Zoidius frowned at that. The lack of weapons was a concern yes, but the chains were a different matter. Zoidius walked to Nia and examined the chain that was locked around her neck. The only explanation to the unbreakable chains would be an enchantment of some kind; and of course the leader would have the key. His eyes widened suddenly when he remembered the third ape was still here, he closed his eyes as if it would help him remember better. The apes name was "Kong", of course! That ape must have the key!

"I might have the answer to your problem." Zoidius opened his eyes as a sly smirk appeared on his lips. "Not long ago I saw three large apes that appeared to be the leaders of this whole thing. All but one left, but the ape is holding a strange weapon that is said to fire 'explosives' or something. I'm guessing that ape has the key."

Everyone took this information rather well and both Polonsky and Miller seemed eager looking, Roebuck noticed this and smacked the back of their heads to which the two yelled out in protest and glared at him. Spyro was worried that a fight was going to break out but was relieved when Miller and Polonsky laughed and high fived Roebuck. Everyone looked less tense at this and everyone curiously wondered if there were other humans like these guys. Of course Spyro thought Polonsky looked familiar if the room they were in wasn't dark he would be able to determine if Polonsky did indeed look similar the human he knew.

"Ok so all jokes aside we agree that this monkey fellow will get its furry ass blasted into hell right?" Polonsky asked with all seriousness in the tone of his voice.

"Yeah and if possible we need to find and obtain our weapons. Before those fucking apes can actually find a way to use them." Miller added.

Roebuck was about to speak until Zoidius interrupted him with a cough. "That won't be necessary. I didn't come alone." Zoidius said and with a motion of his head he turned and walked towards the door. "The three others I came with should be taking care of those bad guys right about now..."

Suddenly three explosions and the dying screams from the apes were heard moments after Zoidius finished his sentence. Turning to look at the crowd Zoidius kept the smirk on his lips and opened the door. Everyone dropped their jaws in shock when their eyes saw a dozen bodies with heads, arms and legs completely torn off from their sockets were spread out in different directions. Blood, intestines and brain matter covered most of the floor and the walls of the buildings around them. Plus the ground was torn up.

"Jesus, it's like someone sent an air raid out there. Miller said voicing everyone's (except for Zoidius) current thought. Spyro cautiously approached the door and peeked outside, everything around the building they were in were dead. There was nothing alive. Spyro nervously pulled his head back inside the building and stared at Zoidius who still had that smirk on his face.

"Three people did all that?" Roebuck said eyes widened in shock.. "Christ, they'd better be on our side."

Everyone was silent as a accented voice spoke from the outside in a 'happy' tone. And soon three men that were helping Zoidius walked past the building.

"And that is how we use grenades comrades." Nikolai said as he rubbed his hands together.

"Vell, zat vas rather effective." Richtofen said in a surprised tone. "How did you know how to do zis sort of damage? It was beautiful!" He asked as he eyed at the destruction of their surroundings.

"This dispray was most impressive Nikorai. Perhaps you sharr use this again." Takeo said in a neutral manner. Nikolai merely shrugged as if he didn't do anything that was worth taking notice, and while he was happy with the destruction his grenades caused' only one remained. He decided to keep this for when they really needed it.

However as the three walked past and were out of sight, the three marines were resisting the urge to kill the Imperial officer and the Nazi on the spot. The only thing that stopped them from doing so was they seen the two acting friendly towards the Russian who was among them. Spyro had to strain his eyes in order to get a good look at the three outside, but their clothing was unmistakable, those were the three that attacked Dempsey who in turn turned on him and the others. He growled menacingly at them but stopped himself when he realised what he was doing. But he was surprised to see them here and alive of all places. Were these the three that Zoidius spoke of?

Takeo stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head to the right and aimed his AK74u at one of the buildings. Both Richtofen and Nikolai stopped and stared at Takeo as the Japanese soldier scanned the buildings for anything hostile lurking within them. When they realised what he was doing they aimed their weapons at their surroundings.

The three lowered their weapons when a familiar face took a peek outside. Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen slung their weapons over their shoulders and approached Zoidius as if nothing happened.

"Vell at least ve know vhere ze creature vent." Richtofen said optimistically.

"My names Zoidius!" The dragon shouted back with a playful grin.

"Right, right." Nikolai shouted back with a laugh. "We remember comrade."

The three stopped in their tracks when Roebuck, Polonsky and Miller walked out of the building with their pistols trained on them. But what caught everyone off guard was one simple word.

"Dempsey!"

Nikolai fainted in shock causing Richtofen and Takeo to look at their comrade with surprise.


	9. Chapter 9

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 8

The first thing that Cynder noticed when she opened her eyes was the lack of light, the only thing that seemed to reveal her surroundings was the light bulbs that showed little to nothing. But then a strange smell assaulted her nostrils, snorting Cynder looked around for the source and found something that nearly caused her to gag. A corpse of an ape was standing nearby, its fur was almost completely gone; and a large amount of skin was completely torn off in various places. Its bottom jaw was severed; leaving its tongue hanging lazily from the remains of its mouth. She instantly turned her head to the left when she heard metal groaning in protest, a door opened moments later the light outside shining inside' allowing Cynder to see everything around her. She then wished she hadn't; surrounding her were the motionless corpses of dragons, cheetahs, moles and to her surprise apes and various other creatures. All of them had maggots eating into their skin and they were in poor condition. Her eyes were wide with horror. Who could do something like this?

"I see the 'terror of the skies' is now awake." The figure said with a mocking bow. Cynder narrowed her eyes as a figure in black armour, holding a sword with a decapitated head of an ape impaled on it approached her, a cruel smile on the figures lips. Judging the persons appearance, and the voice it was male.

Cynder whimpered as the figure pulled off the severed head and tossed it at her feet, laughing coldly as he did so. Cynder immediately looked away before knocking the severed head away from her, she shot a glare at the sword wielding figure with hardened eyes' but it didn't seem to bother him. "Who are you? Is the Dark Master back? Did _**he**_ put you up to this!" Cynder demanded as she bared her teeth in a threatening manner.

"No, I serve someone else. When Malefor cursed my race when we released him' we were doomed to wonder this earth for all eternity." The figure replied as he stepped into the light, revealing himself to Cynder. "I am Grim, the new leader of the apes and servant to The Holy One!" Grim said with a cruel smile. Cynder arched her brows in surprise; the apes were no longer cursed and working for someone who calls him or herself 'The Holy One'?

"Who is this 'Holy One' Grim?" Cynder asked with a hint of curiosity. If she could trick this ape into giving valuable information to her then Cynder could escape with the knowledge of this new threat. That is if she could escape. The ape hesitated for a moment before looking thoughtfully at her Cynder tilted her head slightly; the ape was acting as if he was listening to someone. Grim grinned which caused Cynder to worry about the things that were going through his mind; and the way he stared at her gave her chills. Whatever was going through that mind of his, she guessed it wasn't pleasant.

"It seems The Holy One wants to speak to you." Grim said with a grunt, Cynder raised a brow with disinterest in response.

"And where is this 'Holy One'? All I see in here are a bunch of rotten corpses, along with me and you." Grim's smile became wider than before causing Cynder to shift uncomfortably. He knelt down in front of her and placed his hand on her forehead and tightened the grip he had on her. She tried snapping at him and shaking her head to get him off, but to her dismay, she discovered Grim had a firm grip on her. And he wasn't about to let go anytime soon.

"I'll show you." Grim said, a sadistic smile forming on his face.

Suddenly everything around Cynder began to vanish one by one as a black mist enveloped her. Her surroundings began to turn clockwise as everything was replaced by darkness; closing her eye ands gritting her teeth Cynder waited for something to happen. A minute passed by the time Cynder was bold enough to reopen her eyes; and the moment she did, she instantly regretted it. Standing a distance away from her was a little human girl; her long hair was completely messy and ragged her once clean clothes that were white shoes, brown shirt and a grey skirt were almost completely covered in blood. She was looking at the ground with her hair blacking Cynder's view of the girls face. She kept a brown coloured teddy bear that had blood in some areas of the stuffed body in her arms; an ear was missing as if it was ripped off. A button for its left eye was missing and an arm and a leg was gone.

Cynder turned a full circle so she could examine her surroundings before setting her eyes on the girl again; she crouched down ready to pounce if the girl did anything.

"I can see them everywhere…" The girl said her voice trembling with fear. Cynder tilted her head confusingly at the human girl looked up at her. Cynder gulped when she saw the girls face for the first time. She had green eyes, a scar going down her left cheek, all the way down to her collarbone and it looked like it was done recently. Like her clothes (but at a smaller rate) she had blood on her face, and the right side of her face looked like it was mauled by a predator.

"Do you see them?" The girl asked as if begging for Cynder to say 'yes' to her. "They're everywhere and they won't leave me alone!" She sobbed, her eyes tearing up as she fell to her knees.

Cynder by this time was standing normally giving the girl a look of pity. Whoever did this had completely ruined her life, but who was she? What was her name? And most importantly: Why was she here staring at her? "Are you alright?" Cynder asked trying to sound nonthreatening as she possibly could. "Who are you?"

Suddenly the girl stopped her sobbing and sat there motionless on her knees. Cynder couldn't help but look worried for the girl wanting to approach and comfort her. However those thoughts were cast aside when she looked up again. Her green eyes were gone and were replaced by red glowing eyes that had a glowing mist coming out of them. The torn side of her face opened as she scowled, allowing blood to run freely down her neck and into her clothes. Opening her mouth wide the girl let out a horrific scream that forced Cynder to cover her head with her forearms in a vain attempt to keep the noise out.

"I am Samantha Maxis! And I am you're worst nightmare!" She screamed, her once frightened voice replaced by a torn demonic one that is full of hate and rage.

Cynder breathed heavily in complete fear, this girl; Samantha Maxis was not an ordinary human that much she now knew. Cynder unknowingly took a few steps away from the girl' her eyes wide in horror as two orbs of light shooting out electricity appeared beside Samantha. With a small explosion like blast; two giant zombielike dogs appeared by her side, they looked badly burnt; they had little to no fur on them. That and they were completely black all over their bodies, the dead muscle under their skin made them look bulky. Like Samantha they too had glowing red eyes, only the mist was missing.

"I have a job for you." The girl said her voice now calm, but kept the scowl on her face. "Refuse me and you'll share the same fate of the others had." Cynder took a deep breath and took a daring step forward. Samantha didn't seem to care, the grip on her teddy bear tightened as she grew more impatient.

"What kind of job?"

The scowl that Sam had on her face turned into a smile if the expression she had now could be called one. There was one thing she needed to know. "The ones who are a threat to me, I know their here, in this time." She said with distaste. Cynder nodded allowing the human girl to continue. "But I need to know the location of one. And only one, I believe you met him before…" Cynder looked puzzled for a moment before thinking back; she knew a lot of people and the only one she knew that could be a threat to her would be Spyro; she growled at the thought, she wouldn't let her near Spyro. She'd rather die than to give him away to her. But then again, she didn't **really** know if Spyro was the one who was a threat to her. But she had to make sure.

"Is this person a dragon, like me except he's… purple?" She hesitantly asked Samantha. Much to her surprise the girl laughed as if it a joke, but stopped and stared at her with a serious expression.

"No." She bluntly replied. "He's a human, wearing green clothing has weapons incredibly advanced than the…" she paused as she attempted to find the right words. "'People' if you could call them that, in this world of yours." Cynder thought back, what was the place called again? Der Riese! Yes that was it, they've found a single human wearing green clothing, and he had some advanced weapons in his possession. Just as she said!

"It this human called 'Dempsey' by any chance?" She asked.

Samantha smiled at her.

After a moment of silence Cynder for the first time in a very long time, smiled coldly. "I'll help you find him; I still have a grudge against him for turning against us."

"Nikolai! Nikolai vould you please vake up!" Richtofen pleaded as he in vain attempted to wake the Soviet by shaking him. Takeo merely stood there his eyes focusing on the three marines who were staring at the scene before with mixed expressions of their faces. Somewhere between curiosity and confusion was seen on them all. The fact that a Nazi was trying to wake up a Soviet, someone who was considered "inferior" to Nazi propaganda was a bit surprising for them. And the fact that an Imperial Officer of the Japanese Army was among the two made the marines wary. Besides, the only reason they hadn't open fire on them was because Nikolai shouted "Dempsey!" at Polonsky before he fainted, and they needed answers about his ware bouts.

"Perhaps we shourd try waking the Russian another way Richtofen?" Takeo suggested. Richtofen sighed and gently set Nikolai on the ground again. "I'm rather surprise zat his bottles of Vodka veren't crushed under ze weight" The Nazi said with amusement. Grunting Richtofen got on his feet and turned his attention to the marines and Zoidius.

"Vell, either zhose people came back in time, or Dempsey is younger." He said pointing a finger at Polonsky.

"Wait, hold on a second here!" Miller interrupted a hand rubbing his forehead as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. "You three know Dempsey? The Tank Dempsey, the marine that went missing in 43?" Roebuck asked, more out of interest of how they knew the legendary marine.

"Ja, Dempsey vas vith us sense 1943, but he sacrificed himself so zat ve could escape more than two days ago." Richtofen replied. He then looked at Polonsky with a critical eye, he knew Dempsey for a long time and by now he would have said something insulting to him.

"You are not Dempsey. Are you American?" Takeo asked Polonsky. He then carelessly rested his assault rifle on his shoulder. Polonsky frowned at Takeo. He didn't like the Jap; the look he was now giving him was enough to prove that. But Takeo didn't seem to mind, or notice.

"No. I'm not." He finally answered through gritted teeth.

"I see." Takeo snorted looking unimpressed. "And what brings you Americans to this prace?" He firmly asked Roebuck.

"That's classified."

"Bah, zhey vere most likely captured." Richtofen said with a dismissive wave of his gloved hand. "Just like Dempsey vas and ve still have to find out about zhose strangely furred creatures."

Takeo face palmed himself in the face in frustration while Richtofen seemed to stand there looming over Nikolai innocently. "_Just a few seconds…" _Takeo thought as he began counting down the numbers in his head. A few seconds later, Richtofen widened his eyes in realisation and began cursing in German.

"Scheiße! I've forgotten all about him!" Turning Richtofen grabbed an unconscious Nikolai by the shoulder and began shaking him frantically while yelling at him to "wake up" at the same time. "Leave me alone mother, I want to stay in bed…" Nikolai complained, much the amusement of the marines. Takeo merely allowed a small yet unnoticeable smirk to appear on his lips as he watched Richtofen shout at Nikolai in German again.

"Although that dudes a Nazi, you have to admit, him trying in vain to wake up the Russian is pretty hilarious!" Polonsky laughed. Roebuck and Miller all agreed on this.

"It's you!" Shouted a familiar voice, the five humans and dragon turned and saw Spyro crouched down, wings spread and a vicious snarl on his face. But the snarl itself was aimed at Takeo, Richtofen and Polonsky instead of the others.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Polonsky scratched the side of his head as he gave everyone a confused look.

"Ah, I remember you! You vere zat purple creature zat held Dempsey prisoner." Richtofen snarled as he brought up his MP40 the sub machinegun aiming at the purple dragons head. "Move and I shall kill you mien self!"

"Richtofen, we are not here to make enemies…" Takeo scolded. "Lower your weapon." Rather reluctantly Richtofen slightly lowered his weapon but kept the gun trained on Spyro encase he would do something that he deemed 'threatening'. "Wait a minute… How the hell are you out here?" Roebuck asked with a puzzled stare. Miller and Polonsky both looked at Spyro with a puzzled stare of their own, that was until they realised Spyro never had any sort of magical chain on him. "Serge, he doesn't have a chain…" Miller pointed out rather awkwardly to his superior.

"Wha?" Polonsky stared at Spyro who tilted his head at them. "Dude, did you KNOW you didn't have any kind of chain on you?" Polonsky asked with a look of disbelief. "We could have kicked their asses by now!" He complained.

"You did not." Takeo interrupted causing everyone to look at him and Richtofen who was now pulling up a confused and drunk Soviet onto his feet. "But we three have." He added thumbing the other two behind him with a smug looking grin.

"Oh, what the fuck happened?" Nikolai complained as he held his head in one hand.

"You collapsed Russian. But you'll be fine, mien friend." Richtofen reassured him. "It seems zat Dempsey has a..." He paused trying to find the right words. "Look alike?" Roebuck answered. "Ja, zat vas ze word! But zis one is younger." He pointed at Polonsky as he pulled a cold smile.

"So, Dempsey is still missing?" Nikolai asked.

"It appears so." Replied Richtofen.

"Great." Nikolai said with a sigh. A smile appeared on his face when he realised there was three more soldiers here in this world. And more soldiers meant the enemy would be a lot easer to hunt down. Richtofen after a few moments looked at the three marines and they had two extra dragons at their sides. Realisation appeared on his face; he apparently had the same idea as Nikolai did.

"It seems our numbers…" Nikolai paused for effect. "Are about to work in our favour." An almost menacing smile crept onto his face.

"Why must I have to carry you? This is completely unacceptable!" Volteer complained as he carried Dempsey on his back. Terrador and Cyril were flying side by side the pair while the scouts were flying behind carrying a small group of Cheetahs on their backs. "Because I don't trust you holding on to me in your paws. You were holding me by the legs the last time!" Dempsey shouted back clearly annoyed about the past event. "Just be thankful that I'm the only one you are carrying!" Volteer snorted as Cyril smirked smugly to himself. Terrador shook his head before looking behind him to glance at the rest of the group that were flying steadily behind them. It's been nearly fifteen minutes and they were already a long distance away from Warfang, the dragon city slowly vanishing into the night as they flew onwards.

While they were focusing on keeping their heads up, Dempsey was busy looking down straining his eyes to see anything that would be a village on the ground. But the darkness made things difficult than it already was. Someone or something was out there attacking those who were allied to Warfang and knowing the Dragon Guardians came from Warfang itself, they'd attack them with everything they've got. But they weren't attacked and Dempsey wanted to keep it that way.

"What happened after the building collapsed?" Terrador suddenly asked now looking at a surprised look Dempsey. "What do you mean?" Dempsey replied his surprised face turned into confusion.

"The place Spyro and Cynder found you. What happened after we attacked?" Dempsey looked away thinking of an explanation for the green dragon who merely stared at him patently. There wasn't going to be a good chance of finding another way back to his time so, figuring he had nothing to lose Dempsey decided to tell Terrador what happened.

"Well when you and the other green coloured dragons crashed into the building that I and the others were in, we had managed to turn on the teleporter but one of the green dragons managed to get a lucky hit on the machine we were in—"

"As you said back in Warfang" Cyril interrupted.

"Yeah. It teleported me and the others far into the past, in the 1960s in fact, about twenty five years after World War 2, I think? And in the process I aged a little; three years were taken off me." He inhaled a deep breath as the guardians were listening with interest. "It turns out we were teleported in Germany somewhere, in a city called Berlin"

"Shortly after we appeared the dead rose and attacked us, Nikolai, myself, Takeo and Richtofen the three you encountered in Warfang fought them for weeks. We gathered and bought new weapons for us to fight, with myself getting a CZ-75 and an M-16 assault rifle. Nikolai got an AK-47 assault rifle, very different to the M-16, Takeo gotten an AK74u assault rifle, similar to the 47, but different. Richtofen got an MP40 and two CZ-75s but eventually those were losing their effectiveness." He gritted his teeth when he remembered the bullets barely doing anything to harm the dead.

"Then the four of us were forced to retreat when the undead began getting stronger and harder to kill, so we used a teleporter that was thankfully still in working condition." Dempsey paused, waiting for a question from them. It wasn't much of a surprise when Terrador asked "What happened after you… 'Teleported'?" Dempsey smiled a cocky smile and looked at Terrador firmly. "We came back here." Was his answer. But the smile faded when he continued. "But we were attacked by moles and cheetah's shortly after. Takeo was about to be overwhelmed by them; so using the M-16 I received from Germany I took down as many of the assholes as I could. Takeo managed to escape but I was knocked out from behind and was thrown in the cage you saw me a few days ago. The rest you know." He finished with a sad look.

"So you returned here by accident then?" Volteer finally asked completely awed by Dempsey's story.

"Yep. Complete accident, never intended."

"Somehow I doubt that." Terrador retorted. Dempsey ignored him, before he looked down at the ground below he inhaled heavily as he took in how far the ground was from him, seemed like he was five miles in the sky or more. Then he saw a small fire in a small clearing; from where he was it looked like a tiny dot but from his time in the army he learnt that even something small and looked unimportant could be an enemy position. "Hey Volteer what's the chance that small dot of fire down there could be an enemy campsite?" Dempsey asked. Volteer looked down the moment Dempsey asked the question. He didn't see anything at first but after a few seconds he stopped in mid air causing everyone else behind to stop as well.

"Very little, why?" Volteer asked.

"We should check it out. You never know, we might find something that'll help us. And the ones behind us are straining themselves to keep up." Volteer looked back and saw that they were straining themselves' and they looked like they were going to collapse at any minute. They did get back to Warfang nearly eighteen minutes ago, and they were forced to go out again without any rest and they travelled a long distance in a short amount of time.

Without any sort of warning Volteer went into a nose dive getting a terrified reaction from Dempsey who was holding onto his horns cursing at him. Cyril, Terrador and the others all looked at Volteer with some degree of surprise before they went down and followed his example.

"So, Dempsey is back here?" Cynder asked. She and Samantha were talking one on one for a while now, with Cynder giving all the information she knew about Dempsey from when she found him in Der Riese all the way to his supposed "betrayal" when three other humans, (whom Samantha confirmed was Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen) revealed themselves. Then she told Samantha about Terrador saying they died in Der Riese.

"Nien, those four are alive and are here. This 'guardian' of yours thought he and the others died, but they merely teleported into the past, their past. But someone brought them back here. Who I don't know, but my army is weak in this time, and I am merely going to… 'rebuild and regroup' before I launch another campaign against them." "'Rebuild and regroup'? What does that mean?" Cynder asked. Samantha coldly smiled at Cynder before vanishing before her eyes. Getting on all four Cynder cautiously turned a full circle to see where the girl vanished too. Only she was no longer there.

"I want you to go out and find Dempsey, find him and eliminate him!" Samantha shouted in her demonic voice. "Kill anyone who stands in your way!"

The last thing Cynder saw was a bright light enveloping her entirely.


	10. Chapter 10

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 9

Dempsey quickly got off of Volteer's back before he unslung his M-14 and scanned his surroundings with the rifle raised and ready to fire. The cheetah and moles were quick to follow Dempsey's example as they pulled out their own weapons, the dragons led by the Guardians themselves were already on the move, with Terrador leading a small group ahead to scout the ares, leaving Volteer and Cyril alone to protect Dempsey and the others while leading the remaining dragons. Dempsey slowly walked along a stoney path as his eyes scanned his surroundings for anything unusual; the cheetah's seperated themselves from the group, jumping onto tree branches as they notched an arrow for their bows. The moles themselves burrowed under ground, leaving Dempsey alone with the group of dragons and hidden cheetah's; without looking back Dempsey pressed himself on passing through the trees, stepping over bushes and boulders. He stopped and slid into cover behind a medium sized boulder as a small group of human sized apes walked into view. He took a peak from his cover and was surprised when the moles suddenly appeared under their feet. The apes were taken completely by surprise, and were unable to react quickly enough to defend themselves. The moles with their swords and spears in hand were quick to make short work of the apes by stabbing and slashing the monkeys in their arms, legs, feet and the torso. The apes fell to the ground yelling in agony as they felt their arms and legs get chopped off, their blood spraying wildly in every direction as they tried in vain to stop the blood.

A volley of arrows emerged from the trees, and were easily able to find their targets, cutting down the ones that were beginning to fight back. The apes that were lucky, were quick enough to both see the arrows coming and raise their shields to deflect them. Those that weren't, the last thing they felt before they felt death's embrace was the feeling of their hearts, lungs and limbs being punchered. The moles were able to finish off the rest by stabbing, hacking and slashing the monkey in various places, leaving them to gag in their own blood. All of this occured within moments and the moles satisfied that the apes were dead burrowed themselves once more underground. Dempsey couldn't help but whistle in appreciation at the effectiveness that ambush displayed. Dempsey was currently happy that they were his allies for the moment, he didn't want to keep searching the trees and staring at the ground every five minutes even if it did make things interesting for him.

Dempsey walked to the corpses, he knelt and examaned it, with a shake of his head Dempsey sighed and stood up. "Well, a few less makes it easer for me." He mumbled with a frown. Volteer and Cyril who were flanked by the rest of the group came into view, panting as they stopped to catch their breath' Dempsey who was a few feet away from them snickered in amusement.

"Having fun?" Dempsey asked them with a smirk. "Or, should I slow down so you can keep up with me?"

Volteer stared at Dempsey with an amused look while Cyril glared at him but had a smile showing that he was also amused. "Why I never thought a human could outrun a dragon!" Volteer exclaimed with excitement. Dempsey gave the electric an uncaring shrug and pointed at the trees. "I'm smaller than you, and the trees were in your way. I can move through them easily; and if there wasn't many trees blocking my way, I could be able to pass through them without slowing myself down."

Cyril who was more focused on the pile of apes behind Dempsey widened his eyes. Dempsey noticed it and looked at the Ice Guardian with a questioning look written on his face.

"What?" Dempsey saw that Cyril was looking behind him and realised that the dragon was looking at the corpses. "Oh them," He threw a thumb in the bodies direction "I didn't take'em down. You can thank the moles and Cheetah's for that." Dempsey continued with a shrug, "Besides, it saves me from wasting the ammo I have."

Dempsey turned with a dark look, coldly staring at the corpses. "Then again, I think these may be the attackers you're looking for."

One of the dragons with red scales broke off from the main group and slowly walked behind Dempsey. Dempsey sidestepped away, allowing the dragon to get a clear view without any problems. After a moment of silence the fire dragon snorted in disgust.

"Apes, I am certain that these are our elusive ambushers." Cyril and Volteer stared at each other with their mouths hanging open in surprise. "I thought they were cursed upon Malefor's release...!" Volteer said as he bared his teeth.

"Wait, wait, wait. Apes, the very same guys that almost killed you guys off?" All the dragons nodded. Dempsey growled and twisted his wists, getting a sickening crack out of them. "I'll rip their guts out!" He declared violently.

Cyril shook his head to this much to Dempsey's disappointment. "No, if they are no longer cursed then someone must have freed them." Dempsey nodded seeing that the dragon was right in a sinse.

"But we don't know who. Great, invesigate first' then punting monkeys second." Dempsey said with an evil smile. "Sounds like a job 'The Tank' can do."

* * *

"So what's the plan Sarge?" Polonsky asked making everyone stare at Roebuck. While he wasn't sure the Nazi and Jap could be trusted for what they did, but he didn't have much of a choice, and right now kicking the ape's asses is their number one priority.

"Well, first of all, retaking this village should be second priority on our 'to do list'." Roebuck begun getting an amused chuckle out of Miller. Ignoring the Private, Roebuck continued. "Our first would be dealing with these monkeys, and getting our weapons back."

"Vell, Nikolai and I can spare our own weapons for now." Richtofen said as he slung his MP-40 over his shoulder; before unholstering his duel wielded CZ-75's. Nikolai looked like he was about to protest but Takeo quickly smacked the Soviet across the head earning a glare that said "Do that again and I'll kill you!".

"Nikorai, these American's need all the herp they can get. Give them you're pistol!" Growled Takeo lowering his head while shouldering his 74 for effect. Groaning Nikolai gritted his teeth before unholstering his own CZ-75' and handed it to a surprised and reluntant Polonsky. Richtofen handed his own pistols to Roebuck and Miller, and handed them a few magazines and briefly gave them instructions on how they worked and the firepower they held. They were rather surprised when they learnt the weapons they held was capable of dismembering their targets. That and it carried more then eight rounds and it could go fully automatic!

"What about those weapons the Jap and Russian have? What kind of weapons are they? SMGs or LMGs?" Asked a now curious Polonsky, eyeing the weapons they had. It was only after he examaned his CZ-75 that he finally noticed they had more complex looking weapons than the ones they were used to.

"Big Russian Assault Rifles!" Nikolau slurred spreading out his arms in a vain attempt to make himself more dramatic. Zoidius and Spyro stared at the humans with raised brows; if there's one thing that they agreed on, Mankind were a strange yet violent people.

"Do we have any idea how big the village is?" Miller suddenly asked with a serious expression. "Because we haven't got the slightest idea."

"Actually. He found a map a while ago-" Zoidius said pointing a talon at Takeo. "And it showed the entire village on it."

At this everyone stared at the Jap with raised brows. Takeo merely shrugged acting as if it wasn't a big deal but he took the map out anyway and handed it over to Roebuck. Unfolding the map Roebuck took his time learning the buildings and how large the village was. It wasn't until Richtofen coughed that Roebuck decided he learnt enough make a plan to fight the monkeys.

"Ok, we'll have to a pincer move on these assholes." Roebuck said, he turned at Polonsky and he continued in a serious voice. "Polonsky, Miller and I will move through the middle." Both Miller and Polonsky reluctantly nodded to that, even if they didn't show anything Roebuck could tell they weren't happy, he didn't spend nearly four years in the army and learn how to read their body expression for nothing. But he put their unease aside for now as he addressed Spyro. "Think you can provide us some air support? Just put any apes down that intend to outflank us."

Spyro gladly accepted as he spread his wings open' Roebuck nodded at Spyro moments before the purple dragon took to the skies above them. Both Polonsky and Miller whistled in amasement when Spyro spread his wings in the sky just as the moon behind Spyro reflected off his scales, if they didn't know it was him they would have thought Spyro was some kind of demon.

"Vell, zat is rather amasing! Zhe vay the moon shines his scales; it is so wunderbar!" Richtofen said with excietment. Takeo shook his head although he didn't show it, he was very amused with Richtofen's reaction. Nikolai stumpled over to Roebuck and snatched the map from his hands, causing Roebuck to shout out in surprise at him.

Nikolai examaned the map for a minute or two while Miller and Polonsky tried to stop Roebuck from punching his face in.

"From this plan of yours I can see that you want to use that purple creature to outflank the enemy when he sees them, yea?" Nikolai asked looking up at a restrained Roebuck. Ignoring the glare he received from the marine Nikolai continued as he studied the map. "However, with only three of you on the ground, and one above this maybe doomed to fail." Nikolai stared at Zoidius and spoke to him with authority. "You there! Black scaled creature-"

"Dragon!" Zoidius said with irritation. "I'm a dragon."

"Ok... 'Dragon'" Zoidius growled threateningly at Nikolai. "You are to accompany purple creature and these marines. Make sure the enemy falls before you." Nikolai continued with a sigh. "Takeo, myself and Richtofen will shadow you from the buildings." He added pointing at Richtofen and Takeo. "This pincer move of yours will need all avaliable support for it to work."

"Once again the Russian is wise." Takeo commented with a neutral look. But that expression quickly shifted into an evil look. "Too bad he isn't rike this arr the time."

"Indeed, zat vas rather refreshing. Useually Dempsey vas ze one to make these plans." Richtofen added.

"Roebuck, not to be a spoil-sport or anything like that. The soviet does have a point. We need all the help we can get in this." Roebuck looked at his team mate for a moment, and reluctantly nodded. Polonsky and Miller released their grip on their superior and watched as Roebuck walked to the three unlikely allies and spoke to them with all seriousness he could muster.

"Ok, I'll let you three and your friend here help us. But if you want to help us, you gotta stay in line and follow my orders. Understand?"

Zoidius growled threateningly at Roebuck, with his teeth bared and nostrols flaring. Nikolai was forced to scowl the black dragon. "Zoidius, mind yourself comrade. We don't need more enemies than we already have."

"Fine. But I don't like people ordering me around."

"Sometimes taking and giving orders are nessesary in teamwork comrade." Nikolai replied. Zoidius merely shook him off before taking off after Spyro who was currently watching them with disinterest.

"So..." Spyro said in a friendly manner. "How'd you end up with them?"

"I attacked one of them because I thought they were working for the Dark Master." Zoidius gorwled. His face began to soften when he saw the six begin to seperate from each other. "Strange bunch those three are though."

Spyro smiled to himself. Humans were strange yes, but they can be deadly Dempsey himself proved that to him and the Guardians. The smile was replaced with a frown, he still didn't know why Dempsey turned on them; but now that Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were back, maybe, just maybe, Dempsey is back too.

* * *

"It seems the Holy One wants to use you..." Grim said as he stared at a confused Cynder with disappointment. "Why she would want to use you in a mystery to me."

Cynder snarled at Grim in response who merely laughed in her face.

"Please, as if you could harm me!" He showed Cynder his sword 'Blood-thirst' causing her to stare at her own reflection as Grim continued. "With every kill this sword grants me the power to slay a full grown dragon. So. Do. Not. Test. Me, dragoness!"

"Grim!" Samantha voice echoed accusingly causing Cynder to jump and look around for the voice. "She is not to be harmed, UNDERSTAND!" She yelled making Grim protect his ears. After a moment of silence Samantha continued in a less threatening manner, making Cynder sigh in relief.

"Cynder, there has been a... slight change of plan." Cynder rose a brow in confusion, as she opened her mouth to speak Samantha interrupted her. "It seems Dempsey has friends, three scaled giants are protecting him."

"The guardians..." Cynder whispered.

"Indeed. Grim release Cynder at once!" Samantha ordered much to Grim's displeasure. "Do NOT disobey me, ape." She growled when Grim made to attempt to release the dragoness. Scowling Grim reluntantly placed his hand inside his pouch, after a few seconds of scuffling through his pouch Grim pulled out a small blue key and tossed it to Cynder; who stared at it with a confused look.

"What the heck am I meant to do with this?" She demanded looking at Grim with a fixed stare.

Grim chuckled as he crossed his arms while giving her a smug expression. "You eat it of course." He said bluntly, Cynder gave him a shocked stare that said "Are you crazy!" making Grim laugh at her. "I am completely serious, that key was made by The Holy One herself. There was a magical enchantment surrounding you, only the person that eats the key can cancel it out."

"As stupid as Grim appears to be Cynder-" Grim growled at her, but Samantha ignored him. "He is right. That key must be devouroured."

Cynder cringed at the thought of her eating the key, both her teeth and jaw being in unbarable pain as she tried to chew. At first she thought this was a sad joke on their part; but seeing the serious expression on Grim's face quickly put that thought aside. Cynder reluntantly entangled the key with her tail and reluctantly brought it to her mouth. Grim smiled when Cynder opened her mouth and placed the key inside, and smirked when Cynder tried to spit the key out of her mouth.

"Don't bother. Once the key is in you're mouth it melts almost instantly, hense the horrible taste in your mouth." Grim explained as he laughed when Cynder gave him an evil glare. Cynder licked her own scales in a vain attempt to get rid of the taste on her tongue, as she did this Samantha began to talk gently to her.

"It'll pass eventully."

"Is that meant to reassure me?" Cynder asked with sarcasim.

A moment of silence had passed with no one willing to talk, until Samantha spoke up' with a bluntly said "No." which made Grim fall on the floor laughing. Cynder gave Grim a disgusted look as she felt something foreign wash over her body. Although she couldn't see it Cynder had a feeling Samantha was smiling at her, she looked around the small part of the room she was in and noticed various lines surrounding her in a circle.

"That would be the 'enchantment' the key you've ate would protect you from." Samantha whispered in her ear, making Cynder shiver uncomfortably. "You can now see things that other people normally wouldn't. Enchantments being one of them." She added, her voice becoming distant with each passing second.

"So I can just step on through?" Cynder asked looking at the green lines with suspition, she still wasn't sure if the key she ate did anything; nor did she trust Grim. How would she know he wouldn't attack her once she escapes. Would something happen if she stepped through the lines?

Samantha answered the questions that were going through Cynder's mind, and answered her, literally inside of her own head.

"If you attempted to pass before you ate the key, your entire body would have been fried from the inside." Samantha said without any kind of emotion in her voice, something that made Cynder think she was not going to be fine. The evil glare that came from the now standing Grim didn't help to reassure her. Cynder blankly stared at the floor in silence for what seemed like hours to her, but in reality only a few minutes had passed before Cynder looked up and ran straight into the lines. At the last moment Cynder closed her eyes before she ran straight into the green lines, Grim looked on before shielding his eyes from a blinding light that caged Cynder from escaping.

"I-I'm alive...?" Cynder gasped in disbelief, Grim had unshielded his eyes and locked his eyes onto Cynder who was staring where she formally was; the green lines were there but they were more revealled, more intense. The lines looked like pure energy, shaped like an orb to trap the victim within.

"Of course your alive. You didn't think I was stupid enough to allow The Holy One's chosen to die would you?" Grim said with a sadistic smile. "Becides, what use are you too her dead?" He asked rhetorically.

Cynder growled frustratingly at Grim who laughed at her in responce. Without even thinking of what she was doing Cynder blurted out "If I wasn't helping 'The Holy One' right now, I would slit your throat!". Grim merely laughed even harder at her, Cynder didn't have to know that Grim didn't take her threat seriously, him laughing at her was proof enough.

"I swear by the ancestors Grim, I'll kill you." She promiced.

* * *

Dempsey was busy kicking corpses on their backs with his boot. He's scouted ahead with one of the earth dragons whom Terrador sent to keep an eye on him. Even if Dempsey prefered to by himself he was kind of glad he had some backup if things went down south. Dempsey nicknamed the earth dragon in question 'Rock' mainly because it was amusing for Dempsey to see the dragon get irritated, and it was easer than remembering his original name' that he had already forgotten.

"Find anything Rock?" Dempsey asked.

"For the love of my Ancestors! My name is Quake, Q-u-a-k-e." Dempsey stiffled a laugh although he had difficulty holding it in. "I don't know, 'Rock' sounds alot better than Quake!" Dempsey laughed, much to Quake's irriation.

Sighing triedly to himself Quake had told Dempsey that since the apes are in the area they have to be very careful from now on. Of course Dempsey, being the hot headed man that he is didn't like that but agreed with Quake on the matter. As Dempsey and Quake were busy examing the corpses they didn't notice a pair of sickly glowing eyes watching them with less than worthy intent.

The person in question was a new member of the undead, but not unlike the human's Dempsey was used to fighting. No this one was different entirely, the body of a dead fire dragon, with deeply cut scars that were barely closed, scarred blood red eyes were wide enough to actually bludge out. His remaining scales rebuilt to be almost impenetrable and his mouth hanging open with blood mixed with saliva dripping out. This zombie is one of the many prototypes created to combat the living.

As the dragon hunched down spreading out his broken wings he was about to make his first strike on the living. And he was going to make sure he succeeds in completeing his mission - "Strike at Tank Dempsey and Infect him."


	11. Chapter 11

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 10

Dempsey suddenly rose his M-14 in alarm when the zombified dragon leapt out of it's cover with a terrifiying roar, Dempsey ducked as the dragon flew over him and rolled away before getting on one knee with his rifle aimed at the enemy. Quake only stared in surprise when the zombified dragon slowly turned to face the two; it's blood red eyes hungrily staring at the two, just for a moment before it's eyes finally settled on Dempsey. There was a strange chill running down his spine and the only time he felt that is when he's afraid. But this wasn't fear he was feeling; he could feel someone trying to talk to him, from within his own head. Something that he didn't like. He pushed the thought aside and got himself refocused on the...Thing in front of him. The zombified dragon raised it's head opening it's mouth to howl out magnificently, Dempsey tightened his grip on the M-14 in response and rapidly pulled the trigger but stopped when the bullets harmlessly bounced off the scales. Dempsey watched with shocked eyes as the bullets fell to the floor, the tip of the bullets were crushed completely when they collided into the dragon. Looking at his own weapon in disbelief Dempsey growled as he slung the rifle over his shoudler before taking out his Bowie knife.

"Quake, get the others here. Now!" Dempsey said determined making the earth dragon look at the human as if he was insane.

"Are you serious? We have no idea what that - thing - is for Ancestors sake!" Quake protested but Dempsey would hear none of it.

"I know what that thing is. It's a zombie, and it looks like my rifle is useless against it." He paused to take a deep breath before exhaling calmly. Half turning Dempsey gave Quake a cold stare, as he mouthed the words "Get the others here. Understand?".

Quake opened his mouth to argue but was quickly interuppted when the zombie moaned loudly, Quake barely had time to look as the zombie jumped on him knocking the earth dragon to the ground. Quake looked up at the zombified dragon maw in horror. It's mouth was wide open and he could see a small red light in the back of it's throat. It was going to roast him! A quick and painful death, something that he didn't want to happen. The earth dragon attempted to struggle out of the zombified dragons grasp, but's it's paws were placed firmly on the ground on each side of him. Leaving him at it's mercy. Taking the inishative into his own hands Quake opened his mouth and a ferocious blast of green energy hit the zombie right in the force behind the blast itself was enough to throw the zombie five yards away giving Dempsey and Quake enough time to gather their wits; but the fight was just beginning.

"Ok, a zombified dragon. That's new..." Dempsey said surprised. "Listen, I'm one of the three people in this world who has experience fighting these things, leave it to me. Find and get the others here, ASAP!"

"ASAP?"

"As Soon As Possible." Dempsey explained.

Quake nodded with uncertainty. Dempsey however smirked with confidence and gave Quake a thumbs up. Spreading his wings, Quake flapped and floated in midair. Twisting his body around' Quake took off as Dempsey watched the green dragon's figure vanish into the trees with a frown. The zombified dragon howled as it launched itself into the sky; wings spread and it's mouth open. Dempsey scowled when the dragon unleashed out a fireball at him. Leaping out of the fireballs direction with a grunt, the fireball crashed into the ground, and the fire spread out like an explosion, disintergrating everything in it's path with unholy fire. Dempsey who was caught off guard by this was sent flying towards a tree spine first; he yelled agonisingly on impact and lost his grip on his knife as a result.

Gravity did it's own work as the marine fell to the ground on his side. Groaning Dempsey slowly pushed himself until he was on his hands and knees. It was only a few seconds and already he was getting his ass kicked! He shook his head, attempting to resist the urge to pass out, he could not give up not now! Not so early. The zombified dragon landed on the burnt ground a small distance away, steam was flowing from it's nostrils as it glared at the human. It didn't know where the other one went, nor did it care, the target was him and it will complete it's task.

Dempsey looked up and blinked a couple of times to see clearly. He noticed that the dragon had red scales nearly covering it's entire body, half of it's left foreleg was missing it's flesh, muscle, veins and blood; there was nothing there but revealled bone. The top of it's snout was missing everything as well, just a plain red coloured bone; this thing really was a zombie. But how? There wasn't any 115 nearby was there? He didn't see any red and black rocks on the way here.

"How in god's name is this possible?" Dempsey asked himself. He unslung his M-14 and checked it quickly for any damage, amazingly there wasn't any he could see' but the inside is a different matter.

"So," Dempsey started balancing himself by a nearby tree at he got on his feet his eyes never leaving the dragon. "A new zombie to join the undead party, eh? Who are you working for? Is it Maxis?£ He asked continuously. During the 1940s, 50s and on one occassion the 1960s Dempsey was fighting the undead with unrelenting brutality. When he first fought them in Japan he thought them as a brainless bunch of corpses, but that changed when he finally got to Der Riese in Germany, and Kino Der Toten in West Berlin where they showed some signs of intelligence.

The zombified dragon merely smiled, if that look the zombie showed could be concidered as one. Dempsey straightened himself and stared down the undead dragon in front of him, if it was doing that then Maxis was behind its creation. The question is how? But he didn't have time to dwell on unanswered questions; he had to survive against an unbelievably tough opponent.

"Well, no point standing here doin' nothin'." A smile creeped onto Dempsey's lips. A split second later Dempsey aimed his M-14 at the dragon with a look of pity. "Time to put you down boy!"

The dragon growled and began to charge.

Quake stopped in mid-air when he heard Dempsey's rifle going off and a small explosion moments after, he quickly turned his head and saw smoke raising into the sky. He narrowed his eyes when he saw another explosion; the flames within spread out reducing everything in it's path to nothing but crispy remains of their former self. A series of rifle shots came immeditally, before everything went silent. The flames were spreading at an alarming rate, burning everything within its reach. Quake relunctantly continued his way to the guardians, if he couldn't help him then may be they can.

"Is this the best you got!" Dempsey taunted. "I fought tougher zombies than you shit-for-brains!"

The zombified dragon snarled darkly as it swooped down with it's jaws open. Taking careful aim with his rifle Dempsey held his breath until the dragon was in his line of fire. He smirked a little, this thing was tough but it wasn't very smart it seemed. He pulled the trigger in succession, unleashing a small volley of 7.62 mm bullets towards the dragon, that made no attempts to avoid them. Each and every bullet Dempsey sent out had bounced off the tough scales of the zombie dragon with little effort, and worse still the dragon was getting close to him with each passing second! There had to be a way to harm the thing, maybe even kill it. Then he remembered the revealed limb and snout the dragon had, and thinking he had nothing to lose he shifted his rifle towards the revealed limb and fired rapidly at it. Dempsey eyes lit up with success when the dragon roared in pain and pulled up moments before it could get it's claws on the marine who took a few steps back to distance himself. He took the valuble time he had gotten himself and quickly reloaded his rifle, taking out the magazine from the bottom of the rifle and slipped in a fresh one. He pulled a small lever to seal the mag in place; and aimed at the sky while his eyes carefully looked for any sign of the dragon.

He sidestepped and bolted towards a burnt tree, and pressed his back against the burnt bark. The tree may be dead but at least it was strong enough to even stand against the pressure Dempsey was putting on it. He looked back in the direction he was previously, it didn't take long to see two gigantic balls of fire crashing into the ground recatching everything it managed to touch with deadly effect. Dempsey shielded his eyes in vain against the heat, and slowly lowered his arm until he could see. A thick wall of black flames blocked his way and it was spreading alarmingly fast. He couldn't stay here any longer he needed to get out of here.

As he was about to make a run for it, his jaw dropped, the dragon was walking through the flames that it created' seemingly unharmed as the fire flickered off it's scales. Dempsey upon seeing this reluctantly pointed his rifle at the creature, and found that his hands were shaking.

"Christ. Am I scared?" Dempsey asked himself as he looked at his hands. The dragon noted this and roared demonically into the sky as if it was trying to taunt him. The fire that surrounded the zombie reflected off it's red scales that made the zombified dragon look like a demon from hell.

"Well? What are you waiting for? I'm right here! Fight me ass-maggot!" Dempsey yelled with a scowl.

The dragon didn't need to wait. Within two seconds it was already upon Dempsey; and he only had a quarter of a second to either straighten his rifle out to defend himself, or duck and roll out of the dragons grasp. Sadly he didn't have enough time to do either of them. The dragon used both paws to push and pin Dempsey to the ground, and added pressure to Dempsey's legs by standing on them. Dempsey widened his eyes as his entire body began to shake.

"Oh no. The side effects, I need the Syrette, now!" Dempsey screamed as his entire body began to burn from the inside while his eyes began to roll into the back of his head much to the surprise of the undead dragon. Dempsey headbutted the dragon with surprising force, causing the dragon to wheel back in surprise. Dempsey grabbed the dragon by the throat and delivered a right hook to the bony snout; the force behind the blow was enough to crack the bone itself. He expected to feel a few bones breaking when he delivered the punch but he couldn't help but look at his own hand in awe and wonder when he didn't feel a thing. The dragon staggered away from Dempsey giving the marine time to get on his feet, strangely he felt a lot stronger than he is meant to be.

"Ok, maybe NOT taking the Syrette was a good idea..." Dempsey told himself as a broad smile began to appear. He bent his arms as he looked at himself with new found confidence. "Maybe I'll be able to do more damage to that thing now. Shame I don't have a weapon..."

Dempsey frowned when he saw a jet of black flame coming directly at him, but he made no attempt to avoid it. Dempsey raised his arms to shield his face from the flames as it enveloped him within seconds, burning the vegitation, trees, bushes and grass that the flames has manage to touch. The flames began spreading in every angle creating what the humans would call 'A forest fire.' Dempsey who was no longer shielding his face upon discovering that the flames were cold as ice itself was surprised to see his skin and clothing very much intact. Normally this wouldn't be possible, anything would be burnt to a crisp if fire enveloped their entire body. But this time it wasn't the case. Was he protected? And since he was, there was one question in his head - Why?

Pushing the thoughts aside Dempsey focused on the main problem, the zombie dragon that was being a pain in the ass to him. He ra forward feeling the fire brush against his skin, sending a tickling sentation down his entire body. Ten seconds later and Dempsey was out of the fire and found himself standing in front of the dragon itself who seemed to have a look mixed expression of confusion of surprise planted on it's face.

"Surprise dirt-bag!" Dempsey exclamed.

With all his might Dempsey grabbed the zombified dragon by the horns, slightly twisting it's head and forced it to the ground beside him. He won't be able to strangle it as it didn't need any air to breath, nor could he kill it by breaking it's neck because it was already dead. He could burn it, but then again there wasn't any fire and using his own weapons were out of the question because the bullets were completely useless against the tough scales it had. The dragon began to struggle against Dempseys grip growling menicingly at the human as it glared' Dempsey gave the dragon both a glare and growl of his own in responce. Dempsey tightened his grip on the zombie, if he could hold it down like this until the others get here then he'll be safe, if not, then he is a dead man.

"Hey, you see that?" Zoidius called out in surprise.

Both Spyro and Zoidius stopped in mid air and looked to the south, Spyro's jaw dropped at what he saw. Black thick smoke, large enough to block out the sun itself was seening rising up to the sky itself' even if they weren't close enough they knew what was happening - a forest fire.

"We gotta get over there!" Zoidius declared, without thinking he began to fly towards the smoke. Spyro however quickly flew to intercept and blocked his path, much to Zoidius's dismay. Zoidius attempted to fly in a different direction; but Spyro once again blocked him from going any further than they are.

"What are you doing!"

"Stopping you from splitting away from the rest of us." Spyro said sternly.

"If we don't stop that fire, this village will be burnt to the ground! With everyone in it!" Zoidius protested making Spyro shake his head disaprovement.

"If we go over there now, the fire will be too close for us to handle it." Spyro calmly explained. He could understand what the black dragon was feeling, he felt it himself a few times in the past. But he was older now and much more experienced' and it was time to act wise and thoughtful instead trying to do the unwise thing. "A wise Dragon Guardian once said 'Allowing yourself to become afraid will cloud your judgement. But by allowing yourself to remain calm however, will lead you to have smart and more safer decisions.' Staying here and finding that key to free the others won't put us in danger until the fire arrives, but if you went towards the fire... chance you would be killed."

Zoidius understood what Spyro was saying to him. He acted rashly because he was afraid and didn't think it through, staying here and helping the humans would be the best decision right now.

"You... you are right. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you were just doing what anyone else would have done." Spyro replied in a forgiving tone.

Zoidius chuckled, "Anyone whose stupid enough to do that you mean?" He said with a grin. Spyro nodded with a grin of his own but the grin faded when he spared at glance at the humans below, slowly searching for the apes on two fronts.

"You do realise that they should know about this right?" Spyro turned his head and nodded grimly.

"Yes. I do."

"So do you think we can trust those three?" Polonsky asked suspiciously as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "For all we know they might shoot us in the back once their done."

"We don't have much of a choice Polonsky. While we do need the firepower they provided us-"

"Which these pistols are awesome by the way!" Miller interuppted as he aimed his CZ-75 in various positions with exciement. Roebuck cleared his throat making the young marine smile sheepishly and Polonsky Roebuck to continue.

"Anyway - if no one is going to interrupted me," He stared at Miller, giving him a hardened look for full effect. "We do need the firepower. Becides between us and the purple and black dragons above we'll be fine. And the Jap, Kraut and Soviet are an added bonus. If their going to help us, then so be it."

"Becides," Miller added with a cocky grin. "Who says we have to like it?" He was right of course. They didn't have to like working with the Imperial and German, but the Soviet they could put up with. If he wasn't drunk nearly twenty-four seven.

Meanwhile, Takeo pintched his nose in disgust as Nikolai burped loudly before pounding his chest. Richtofen laughed in amusment at Nikolai's antics while Takeo groaned frustratingly.

"Arr I wish is some peice and quiet. But it seems the drunk makes it impossibre..." Nikolai laughed as he jokingly smacked the Japanese soldier across the back. Takeo lost his balance and fell, face first to the ground. Richtofen stopped and stared at Takeo with a twisted grin and his eyes wide in a threatening manner.

"Vell, zat vas very amusing." Richtofen began. " Nikolai. DO IT AGAIN!" Takeo winced at the raised voice as he pushed himself onto his feet, and began wiping the dirt off of his uniformas he grumbled to himself.

As Nikolai opened his mouth to reply the three snapped their heads around at the sound of an explosion. Their eyes widened in surprise when they saw a massive fire raise into the sky, the shockewave that followed after threw the three off their feet.

"Guys!" Zoidius shouted in concern for the humans below. Nikolai called out in response saying 'they are fine' to Zoidius. Sighing in relief Zoidius turned to face Spyro with a grim stare, and said "We should see if the other humans below are fine."

"I agree with you there. You check on the ones you came with, I'll check with the others."

Zoidius nodded and as he flapped his wings he sped towards Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen while Spyro headed towards Roebuck's group who were taken off guard by the shockwave. Roebuck waved casually at Spyro when the purple dragon approached the humans. Miller too busy helping Polonsky on his feet to notice the purple dragon. As Miller helped Polonsky onto his feet, the blonde haired marine was the first to voice what was on all of their minds right now.

"What in god's name was that?"

"It sounded like an explosion. And then a shockwave must have knocked us on our asses shortly after." Miller explained.

"We shouldn't have felt a shockwave of that magnatude! It felt like an earthquake."

"Having thousands of tanks rolling around a battlefield can shake the ground. Collapsing buildings will make an aftershock or something similar. An explosion? That, I don't know much about." Roebuck added.

"Sometimes a powerful dragon can do something like that." The three humans turned to look at the purple dragon who was now staring off into the distance. "Maybe a dragon guardian. But as far as I know, there isn't a dragon more powerful than a purple one. Except for another purple dragon."

"So whoever caused that is powerful. But not as powerful as you?" Polonsky jerked a thumb towards the mushroom cloud. "Great. Just great, and I thought things couldn't get any worse-"

"Well that's life Polonsky." Roebuck butted in effectively cutting off whatever Polonsky was about to say. "And sometimes things ain't fair in life."

"Um, guys? We really need to find that key. The explosion might have caused a forest fire." Spyro interrupted. The words 'Forest fire' had easily captured their attention and were now focusing on Spyro with both surprised anf fearful expressions. "And standing around won't save the others."

Roebuck was quick to agree with Spyro and ordered the marines to move out in an orderly fashion. Spreading his wings and flapping them Spyro took to the skies and looked at the mushroom cloud one more time before helping the humans below.

"Hey look it's the black cre-" Nikolai began before he was rudely interrupted bu Zoidius

"Dragon!" Zoidius scowled. "I'm a frickin' dragon for my Ancestors sake!"

Nikolai raised both hands in a form of surrender at Zoidius's outburst. "Alright, alright. Forgive me for trying to lighten the mood of my comrades."

Takeo smacked Nikolai across the back of his head in irriation, "We are not your 'comrades' Nikorai. And it sharr stay that way!" Rubbing where Takeo smacked him, it was only seconds before Nikolai clentched his fist and punched Takeo in the stomach, hearing a gasp for breath from the Imperial Nikolai then grabbed the Japanese Officer by the neck and delivered a right hook to the face effectively sending the Imperial soldier down on his ass.

"And that was for hitting me suka!" Nikolai yelled shaking his right hand to elevate the pain. Takeo looked up at Soviet with murder in his eyes, seeing a fight coming on Zoidius got in between the two and glared at them.

"Will you two knock it off! There are more pressing things at hand!" He growled at the two.

"Like vhat?" Richtofen asked curiously crossing his arms.

Zoidius turned to Richtofen and spoke in the same tone as he had done with Takeo and Nikolai. "There was an explosion a few minutes ago - which I have no doubt you three heard - and there is a high possibility that the fire from it is coming in this direction. We MUST get a grip on ourselves and finish what we set out to do!"

For the second time ever, the three agreed to another common goal: Find the ape leader, kick his ass and get out.

Unfortunitally the explosion had manage to hit the camp that the guardians were in. Fortunitally, Quake had arrived and quickly told the guardians of the zombified dragon that he and Dempsey encountered. When Terrador asked for a reason why Dempsey wasn't with him, Quake quickly replied "He stayed behind to hold it off so I could get you!" much to everyone's surprise. And when they saw the explosion Cyril was quick to act by using his ice abilities to create a dome of ice around the area they were in and with the other ice dragons and dragonesses had managed to hold it until the flames died down.

All this happened a few minutes ago and the guardians were now questioning Quake with concern.

"Dempsey told you to flee?" Quake nodded forcing Terrador to resist from sigh in irriation. "He should know better than to take on an enemy that is beyond him."

"He told me to come and get you, the dragon he's facing is completely immune to his weapons. I fear he won't last along on his own. And with that explosion and the shockwave that followed I fear Dempsey would be... nothing but ashes."

"Or he could be alive and was smart enough to find water to jump in." Volteer said optimistically.

"Maybe, but I highly doubt it."

Terrador chuckled, but showed no sign of amusment when he spoke. "You underestimate the human. A warrior must use everything at his disposal to his advantage." Terrador paused as he thought back to the temple in Warfang, seeing Dempsey facing down dummies that were technically stronger than him.

"Perhap's if he still lives, he can teach us how to fight like he does." Quake suggested gaining an amused chuckle out of the earth guardian.

"I'm afraid the way we fight is very different to humans in afraid." He turned to look at Volteer and Cyril, "Volteer! Cyril!" The two guardians stopped what they were doing and glanced at Terrador. "The four of us are going to find Dempsey now, the longer we wait the higher chance he'll be killed."

They didn't have to be told twice!

"Ok, this is really getting on my nerves..." Dempsey thought as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking as cold water rushed into his pupils. With his breath held Dempsey pushed himself off of the bottom of a river that surrounded him. He barely got away from the blast intact, in fact most of his body is burning when the flames caught onto his uniform only for the flames to be put out instantly when he leapt into the water.

"That was a close call. Dammed zombie almost roasted me." Kicking his legs Dempsey pushed himself through the water. Breaking through the surface Dempsey filled his lungs with fresh air before wiping the water out of his eyes with the best of his abilities. Once the water was out Dempsey took a quick look at his surroundings. His jaw dropped, literally, as he saw the charred remains of trees the burnt remains of grass and bushes. And the zombified dragon was floating in mid air; roaring in dominance at the destruction it caused.

"For gods-sake, I can't even match that!" Dempsey said through gritted teeth. As he swam to shore Dempsey had many things going through his head. He wondered how he was going to kill the zombie, it could fly and attack him from above. While he was currently weaponless' wet and unfortunitally unable to match the zombies strengths. And as far as he knew it didn't have any weaknesses he could expoilt. As he pushed himself onto his feet, the water poured out of his uniform and onto the ground. Unsurprisingly Dempsey felt a hell-of-a-lot lighter because of it.

Looking up at the dragon who was staring menicingly at him from above, Dempsey clentched both his fists until his knuckles lost their colour.

"I wish I gotten an SMG instead of that rifle..." Dempsey said. He looked down at the burnt ground and closed his eyes for a moment. Letting the sound of the fire flood into his ears. It was strange for him, the silence, it seemed to calm him to a small degree. Even if a being of death was ready to bring him to the afterlife. Then again he would rather shoot himself in the head than let a zombie kill him, he didn't want to come back a walking corpse. He snapped his eyes open and glared at the zombified dragon above in defiance, his teeth grinding against each other agonisingly. He cracked his knuckles as the dragon landed a few yards in front of him, eagerly licking its teeth.

"So, this is where it begins eh?" Dempsey said giving the dragon a cold stare. "The undead are coming back." He looked towards the sky and yelled. "So? Where is your mighty undead army now little girl!" The zombified dragon growled threateningly at the marine, but Dempsey didn't notice. "Is that fucking retard of an animal all you have?"

"Zhis vill not end vell for you American." The ghostly voice of a little girl called out tauntingly. "My army is building while you, Edward, the Russian and the Imperial are the only ones standing in mien vay!"

"Their name is Nikolai and Takeo, girly! And we four managed to fight off thousands of the undead by our own!" Dempsey responded spitefully. "I'm more than enough of a match for this abomanation of a dragon you turned!"

There was silence for a long while as the dragon watched Dempsey patiently. Finally after five minutes of silence the voice replied.

"Ve vill see, American."

Dempsey firmly braced himself as the dragon charged.


	12. Chapter 12

_Here you go my fans, the finished chapter. Although I'm a little worried about the "Fourth-wall" and the newly made "Sixth-Wall" that I recently created. So for those who don't have a clue what the "Sixth-wall" is, here is a small explanation: The "Sixth-Wall" is when a character in the story, suddenly pulls out a highly powered weapon that is completely impossible to carry without being seen. Now only certain characters can do this, and I'm going to get a lot of flames for this; but I decided to give it a shot. If no one likes it then I'll make sure that the said characters will have a limit, like "Once a day" or something. _

_And if it's really successful. Then you may see more of it. That is all from me._

* * *

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 11

Dempsey ducked the moment the dragon leapt at him. It wasn't fair in his case; that Samantha was actually watching over him of all people. Then again with every thing that had happened he wasn't sure if he should be surprised or freaked out about it. But then stranger things have happened, fighting an enemy that shouldn't even exist was one of those things, him being the oldest human alive (apart from Samantha) and surrounded by dragons and other creatures that resembled animals from his time also went into that category. He grabbed the dragons tail and with all his strength he turned and threw the zombified dragon into a few trees, he looked at his own hands in astonishment at this action.

"Guess I still need to get use to this..." Dempsey thought with a smirk, he immeditally looked up when the dragon roared at him from above. His smirk instantly turned into a scowl as he flexed his arms when the dragon flew down to him at full speed.

"C'mon freaksack. I got a whole can of kickin' ass for ya'!" Dempsey baited, the dragon snarled as a jet of fire was unleashed at him again, only this time, Dempsey didn't bother evading it. Dempsey held his ground as he heard the dragon fly towards him at full speed. Before the dragon collieded with Dempsey, the marine bent his knees so they could absorb most of the impact.

When the dragon finally crashed into Dempsey the marine grunted in surprise when his feet were dragging across the ground, with his feet slowly digging into the dirt. It quickly began a standstill, with neither side willing to give way, and knowing that it wouldn't be able to push Dempsey any further the dragon dropped its feet to the ground.

"Heh. Changing you're plans, eh?" Dempsey self-righteously smirked. He forced the dragon to adapt and now that it's feet were on the ground he can now use it to his advantage.

Putting everything he had behind his arms Dempsey slowly began to over turn the dragon. Getting a loud howl from the zombie in responce, once the zombified dragon was completely turned on it's side, Dempsey quickly released the dragon and with speed that he knew he didn't possess not long ago he was able to get into postion and kick the dragon in the stomach. Which sent the undead creature through some already burnt trees.

Dempsey laughed in triumph at the display, seeing the dragon 'crash and burn', figuratively speaking.

"AH-HA! Can't keep a marine down!" The soldier taunted, gaining a death glare from the zombie. He didn't care though. He was strong enough to handle himself, but he can't let his cockyness get to his head. Otherwise, he would get severally owned afterwards.

And getting owned by a zombified dragon would be a total blow to his badass reputation. And that was something he couldn't allow to happen. If Richtofen or Nikolai get wind of this he'll never hear the end of it!

Speaking of a certain Nazi, he was peaking over a corner to get a better view at the targets. They were apes and there were many of them. Not a many as he expected but the numbers he saw before his eyes were still a lot.

"Ok, I see about twenty or thirty of ze fifthy monkeys." Richtofen adjusted his cap, and looked at Nikolai and Takeo. "Should ve go in zhere now and take our chances? Or should ve vait or ze Americans to come?"

Takeo being an open minded and patent man was the first to speak. "I say that we attack. The Americans honour is nothing compared to mine!" Well, he sort of was. Mostly.

"I think we should attack as well. Those fucking monkeys are disgusting." Nikolai said with his voice full of venom. Nikolai really really hated monkeys with a passion. You could say if he saw one, he'd rather shoot it in the face with a shotgun than let it touch him. And the fact that they were soooo close to a large group of them not twenty yards away didn't really help.

"Carm yourserf Russian." Takeo scowled. "These beasts sharr ferr our might soon enough."

Takeo's speech proved to be true, except they would attack a lot sooner than they expected. First: a group of five apes jumped from buildings in a hurry; with terrified expressions on their face. Second: they heard gunfire that came from a Thompson, Browning and B.A.R. And third: Polonsky who held the Browning suddenly jumped on top of a rock and began firing wildly at the apes while Miller and Roebuck took a knee in front and fired into them.

Nikolai peaked from under Richtofen who looked down at Nikolai in a very awkward way. Takeo grimace at the scene and pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief. Was he and Richtofen the only ones who find the position Nikolai was in rather, gay?

"Can we kill now?" Nikolai asked oblivious to their staring.

"Ja! Ja! Ve kill now!" Richtofen had said those words the very second Nikolai asked. Who sighed in relief when Nikolai readied his AK and bolted away from his group. He stopped, took a knee and raised his assault rifle and pulled the trigger. The assault rifle bucked as the familar flash of light emerged from the muzzle of his weapon; lighting up his face, yelling as the apes fell to the ground in a hail of bullets. His bullets.

Both Takeo and Richtofen stared at each other for a short moment, before they donned their weapons and rushed into the open to join Nikolai. The apes were completely caught off guard when Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen joined the firefight; since they were so caught up with trying to reach the marines they were completely oblivous to the other three who had flanked them completely. When the apes realised they were caught in a pincer move, they were nearly wiped out.

Roebuck calmly moved towards a distracted ape, flipped his B.A.R and slammed the butt into the back of the ape head. The ape fell to the ground screaming out in surprise, Roebuck then bashed his rifle into the apes head again, silencing it, and flipped his weapon so the barrel was facing the right direction and fired at the rest of the apes.

Polonsky stopped firing so he could reload, but not before grabbing a pineapple grenade removing the pin and throwing the small yet deadly explosive at the apes. Then he put his full attention on his currently empty Light-machine gun, carefully opening the top of the weapon and placed a large chain of .50 caliber bullets inside. He sealed the weapon and pulled the bolt on the right side of the machine gun and went back into "Killing mode". Miller cursed when one ape had thrown a hand made bomb at him, and without hesitation he ran towards the explosive, lifted it with his left hand and threw it back to its sender with a strained grunt. He quickly balanced his Thompson with both hands and took aim at the explosive, and fired three short bursts at it. One of the bullets had managed to hit home, and the bomb went off almost instantly, the shrapnel had shredded anything that was close by.

Miller had to admit, he was impressed, crude but effective.

A few minutes later the three marines had regrouped with Nikolai and Takeo and Richtofen. Richtofen was distracting himself by admiring the dismembered corpses, intestines, severed limbs and bloodsplatter that surrounded them.

"Oh zhis is soooo _beautiful_!" Nikolai shuddered unconsciously at the way Richtofen spoke. It sounded as if the Nazi was aroused. Actually, Richtofen found anything that involved killing sexually arousing. And that itself was creepy.

Polonsky went on one knee branshed his knife and slapped the ape across the face, to wake it up. The ape snapped it's eyes open and immeditally tried to escape, it failed. Polonsky grabbed the primate by the neck and smashed its head against the floor holding his combat knife against it's throat. Roebuck scowled at the ape when it glanced at him, and when it looked at Miller the marine grunted in disgust and aimed his Submachine gun at its temple threateningly.

"Alright you fucking peice of shit." Polonsky pressed his knife into the apes throat, getting a deep inhalation out of the animal. "We are going to ask you questions. You are going to answer them, understand?"

The ape didn't answer and Polonsky punched it in the face. "DO. YOU. UNDER-STAND!" He was yelling right in its face now. His white teeth fully bared and his eyes wide like a mad man. The ape didn't answer, but it nodded, Polonsky seemed to calm down and pulled the ape into a sitting position.

"Ok, here how its going to be..." Polonsky stared the monkey in the eyes. "I want to know whose currently in charge here." Polonsky wasn't being cheerful or sarcastic anymore. He was being completely serious, Richtofen noticed his change almost instantly; and he was reminded of Dempsey. Hell. Polonsky looked **exactily** like Dempsey. Even if there was an age difference between the two, with different voices, different attitudes and personalities. They could easily pass as one another.

"You cannot vin Demphsey. Give up." Samantha taunted.

"You don't know me at all little girl. I NEVER surrender!" Dempsey ducked as the zombie dragon leapt at him.

"You should, it vill make things easer on you." The dragon landed on a boulder, jumped and turned, glaring at the human.

"Easier on me? You sicked a zombified dragon on me! How is that 'easier' on me?" The dragon growled with menicing intent in its glowing eyes. Dempsey jumped aside when the dragon unleashed a hail of fire.

"Seriously? Who took all my cash?" The dragon gave Dempsey a look that said 'are you completely out of your mind?'. Dempsey however laughed so hard that he had to hold his sides. " Oh man, hey, Author! You gotta get this on the story... Oh wait, you already did!"

"Grrraagh, vould you shut up and DIE already!" Tank shrugged and waved at Samantha dissmissively. "All right. Author! Bring the dragons here already would ya?"

Suddenly five dragons appeared out of nowhere, making Dempsey jump back in surprise. Suddenly a sign stuck to the ground beside Dempsey, who turned and started to read it. "'This is the first AND last time I help you cheat Tank Dempsey! And stop breaking the fourth wall.'" Dempsey blanked. Then growled with irritation. "Dude, I'll break the fourth-wall when I feel like it!"

"Ah! Look everyone, we are in a new location that we suddenly found ourselves in!" Volteer looked around with a rather excited look, but his surroundings were so full of ash and death that his eagerness was diminshed almost instantly. "How, horrible!"

"How on earth did we get here?" Cyril muttered to himself. "Last thing I remember was flying, and the next-"

"You ended up here." Everyone looked at Dempsey who was smiling and waving brightly at them. "Hey guys! Ya' miss me?"

"DEMPSEY!" Volteer was completely ecstatic at seeing Dempsey again. But Terrador noticed something different about him, but Dempsey was fine and so far that was good enough for him.

"Yeah, I'm real happy too see you too. But there is a teeny-tiny situation that has to be dealt with right now."

"What situation?"

Dempsey pointed and the dragons turned their heads. And saw the zombified dragon staring at them with hungry eyes. "THAT situation. Now do what you guys do because I am tired as hell. And I need to rest."

The dragon howled as black lighting dominated the sky. Terrador, Quake, Volteer and Cyril bent down and bared their teeth in retaliation. But dispite all this Dempsey couldn't help himself but smile, the Author had finally come through for him.

"Yep, I'll just keep breaking the 'fourth-wall'... Maybe, I'll break the 'sixth-wall' too while I'm at it." Dempsey mused, as he rubbed his stubble.

"Is it me, or do you feel that somewhere, Dempsey has broken that 'fourth-wall' of his?" Everyone (except for Takeo and Richtofen) just stared at Nikolai, giving him the 'Are you seriously insane' look. Takeo was usually paired with Dempsey when they fought off the undead, and because of this he had to endure a lot of Dempsey's insane rants. Like' talking to no one; and yelling at the sky for more ammo. That sort of stuff.

When he asked Richtofen about Dempsey's sanity in Japan, the Nazi scientist hadn't had the slightist idea what was wrong with him. However, Nikolai was nearby and explained in his own drunken way that "Dempsey merely broke the fourth wall." And then they heard a strange futuristic sound that sounded a lot like music, and then they heard a woman singing to the beat. And this happened in every single place they were stuck at. Takeo and Richtofen merely made a failsafe within their mind to cope with the whole "Breaking the fourth wall" thing. And unfortunitally, they've found themselves doing it.

Only it was on a lower scale. A MUCH lower scale.

"Yes, I fear that Dempsey has broken the fourth warr again." Takeo said neutrally. He wasn't bothered at all with it, not that he cared.

"What the hell are you guys on about?" Polonsky asked with an incredulous look, there were many many things going through his head right now. And most of them were along the lines of "Section 8" the military term for "mentally unfit". And Polonsky never knew how close he was, because them three were more along the line of "Insanity" than "mentally unfit".

"It is too complicated for you too understand comrade." Nikolai replied in a regretful manner patting the Dempsey look alike on the shoulder. "It would mess with brain. Like it did mine..." Polonsky glanced between the three unlikely allies and his own friends with a bewildered look. From the way they were scratching their heads and the looks of pained confusion, they were seriously having a very bad headache.

"It IS messing with my brain!" Polonsky suddenly yelled. "And what the heck is a 'Fourth Wall' anyway!"

"You vill understand once you see Demphsey." Richtofen said matter-of-factly.. "He does it nearly all ze time. And ve have gotten infected vith it, only ve have it on a smaller scale." Richtofen took off his cap and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Oh for the love of-" Everyone turned their attention on the monkey, who was complaining about their constant chat about nothing. "I have no idea what you creatures are saying - nor do I give a dam - but you lot are driving me up the tree!" Polonsky gave the monkey a questioning look.

"I'm just going to tell you lot everything I know, because, you lot are driving me mad and I want you all to be quiet!" The humans looked at each other. "The **current** leader that is under control of this pathetic village is known as Kong. And He is nearby, just up the street with a small force of bodu gua-" Polonsky decided they had all the information they need, drove his knife into the apes skull. The ape immeditally went into shock upon feeling the cold steel puncture both his skull and brain. Polonsky twisted his knife, getting a sickening 'crack' as the skull was split open.

"Vell, if ve vere allies I vould make you my apprentice for showing such brutality!" Richtofen said admiring Polonsky's bloody handy work.

"Shut up you Kraut bastard." Polonsky grunted in distain as he yanked his knife out of the skull.

An unexpected roar suddenly caught their attention as they quickly stood up and looked in the direction the noise came from. Their jaws dropped when they saw six adult dragons in the sky fighting. Only five of them were ganging up against one. Polonsky parted his mouth to speak but a bright light interupted him.

"Well, I have totally broken the 'fourth wall' again. Thanks Author!" A familar voice yelled proudly.

Polonsky dropped his browning to the ground when the light dimmed. There was Tank Dempsey, with his back facing them, his uniform was completely drenched in water and dirt.

He turned suddenly and his eyes lit up when he saw Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen. But when he saw the other marines, (including Polonsky, who was shocked out of his mind when he saw a look-alike right in front of him) he frowned in confusion. He raised an eyebrow at them before grabbing the side of his head as he saw flashing images about his past.

Dempsey smacking the butt of his M1 Garand into the neck of an Imperial soldier who was about to attack Roebuck from behind. Then the image flashed to him using the M2 flamethrower on an unsuspecting group of seven Japanese Soldiers, he was laughing as he saw the flame from his flamethrower burn his victims alive, the smell of burning flesh assaulting his nostrils. His entire body shook when he came too, and he found himself on his knees with Roebuck and Miller holding him by the shoulder in concern.

"Are you alright American?" Nikolai asked with concern. It wasn't a secret that Nikolai was the only one in the group (apart from the other Marine Raiders) that liked Dempsey. And even if the said marine didn't have an opinion on the drunk, he still classed him as his friend. "Comrade, are you ok?"

Dempsey grunted as he felt himself getting lifted onto his feet. He looked at both Roebuck and Miller and smiled at them. "Aye, I'm alright thanks for the concern Nikolai. And it's nice too see you guys again."

"Same here Tank." Roebuck replied.

"Yeah, we thought you went missing! Nice stubble by the way, you growing a beard?" Dempsey brought a hand to his chin and slowly began to rub it, feeling the short hair roughly grinding against his skin.

"Yeah, glad you noticed." Dempsey said to Miller. "Could you guys let go of me now? I still have to do one more thing."

The two reluntantly did as Dempsey asked and everyone stared silently as Dempsey walked away and seemingly out of nowhere he pulled out a rocket launcher that had green goggles attacked to it. Everyone stared at Dempsey with their mouths hanging open.

"WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM!" Polonsky shouted in disbelief.

Dempsey turned and gave them his infamous smile. Takeo rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I feer that another headake is about to come!" Takeo declared.

"Your right Tak, because I just broke the 'Sixth-wall', and I just made that up there now." Dempsey said with that smile still present.

Richtofen right eye twitched and held up his hands and began grunting; imagining that he was choking someone to death. "Demhpsey, have I ever told you how much I HATE YOU!"

Dempsey shrugged and turned his back to them and began to look through the goggles of his rocket launcher. He saw the dragons fighting against each other and smirked, the knowledge of how to use it flooded his mind; and he even knew the name. Valkyrie Rockets, or "VR" for short.

"Your just jealous because I can do these kind of things and you can't. Makes the story much more interesting."

"Or boring!" Richtofen countered.

"Just let me do this one thing alright? That bastard of a zombie dragon has been around for at least three or four chapters already. It's time to move on!"

Polonsky nudged Roebuck in the arm. "What the heck are they talking about?" He whispered. He was looking at Dempsey as if he lost his mind, mainly because he pulled out a gigantic weapon out of nowhere in front of them. And Richtofen because he knew what was going on... Didn't he?

"I have no idea."

Dempsey was calcuating the distance the missile had to travel in his mind, and he also knew how long it could last in the air for. "Fifteen seconds... Yeah, that's more than enough time." Dempsey muttered under his breath.

He steadyed himself, aimed high and pulled the trigger.


	13. Chapter 13

Humanity's Finest

Chapter 12

"Ok, this thing is kind of hard to control..." Dempsey was busy stearing the missle towards the dragons with some difficulty,keeping it straight was one thing, turning it the other hand was quite another. So far he wasted at least three missles, and he had three left. This is the fourth one he is using.

"Who ever designed this thing - is really a genius - but turning the dam thing in a different direction is a massive pain in the ass too do."

Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen were on Dempsey's left side. And Roebuck, Polonsky and Miller were on his right. The six of them were too busy watching the missile flying through the air, while it was under Dempsey's control. Needless to say, they were very very interested in the VR that Dempsey had. Takeo was even looking through his binoculars too see what the result is.

"You know. As much as I'd like to say 'this is impossible' and 'how on earth can a missle be guided' and stuff. But that is frickin' cool." Polonsky said, his arms crossed as he watched the fourth missle yet again explode in mid-air.

"Hmm, it appears that the exprosion had harmed the sky demon." Takeo announced watching the zombified dragon getting tackled by Terrador when it was distracted. "Another one rike that and it shourd be finished."

Dempsey growled as he grabbed another missle and placed it in the tube. "Oh sure, fifth times the charm right?" He said with sarcasim.

Nikolai suddenly looked up realising that they were missing two people. Or rather dragons from their group. "Hey, is it me or are there meant to be nine of us?" He asked rubbing his cheek in confusion.

Dempsey lowered the VR and glanced at Nikolai eyebrows raised. "What do you mean 'nine'? Who else was with you?" He demanded. Nikolai shrugged ignoring the glare that Dempsey was giving him.

Richtofen however butted in before Dempsey could make a snappy responce. "Zhere vere two scaled creatures like zhose." He pointed at the fighting dragons. "One vas purple, and ze other black, vith a scar on his face."

"A purple creature?" He mused, he blinked in realisation. "Spyro... So who was this other one called?" He silently begged that it wasn't Cynder, having two dragons who think he turned against them would be a bad thing. Plus he wasn't in the mood to deal with them at the moment.

"Zoidius is his name. He attacked the Russian by mistake when we first met him." Dempsey raised an eyebrow at Nikolai and noticed the bloody leg, he shifted nervously as his eyes darted to the sky. Wondering if this "Zoidius" character would come swooping down from nowhere.

Suddenly a hand gripped his shoulder, causing Dempsey to nearly jump out of his skin. "Say Tank would you mind if I have a shot?" It was Polonsky - his look alike. Something that Dempsey never paid attention too, but now he did and suffice he was really creeped out, but he covered it up pretty well.

He stared at him for a minute. Thinking if he could give the teenager the VR or not. Another minute with nothing but silence, except for a loud demonic roar here and a scream of pain there; he finally gave in, and handed the young marine the rocket launcher.

"Alright, just don't make me regret it ok? I'd hate it if I had to run because you accidentally made the missile come back at us instead."

Polonsky scoffed looking through the goggle shaped like scope of the rocket launcher. "As if! Just tell me what to do alright." Dempsey threw up his arms while everyone else was staring at Polonsky as if it was the end of the world. Richtofen on the other hand, glared at Dempsey in a rather sadistic way.

"Fine, just look through the scope and pull the trigger, your eyes are the guide. Just try and hit the one that looks like a corpse alright?" Polonsky nodded, short and easy to follow he could do this... Right?

Dempsey coughed extremely as he sat up and cast Polonsky a glare that would make Richtofen proud. Everyone was lying on the ground moaning, the missile after it was fired had turned around and came straight at them. Thankfully it detonated ten yards above them, and they were running away (Polonsky dropped the rocket launcher when he realised he couldn't control the thing). The blast and shockwave threw everyone off their feet, some landed violently, others crashed into walls or boulders.

"I just regretted giving you the rocket launcher!" Dempsey rubbed the back on his neck, ignoring the insults that were hurled at him from everyone else. Polonsky raised his hands in surrender casting everyone an apologetic look.

"Ok, ok I guess it was my fault that I caused it to turn on us."

"Zat is because it VAS your fault, American pig!" Richtofen screamed.

Everyone shot daggers at Richtofen. Everyone knew what the Nazi's did to the Jews and the disabled, gay and anyone who they didn't concider "perfect" in their eyes. And having one right beside them didn't sit well with the marines. Dempsey included. Roebuck pushed himself onto his feet and rubbed his uniform down before walking off to help Miller and Polonsky to their feet.

"Doc, there are a lot of us here who really want you dead." Dempsey said bluntly. Richtofen snarled at him. "And pissing us off isn't really a good way to get on our 'good' side if you know what I mean, Butcher."

"It appears that the Dempsey look-alike has caused damage to surrounding. Buildings are still standing though... Good!" Nikolai grunted sitting up; he went through his sack and took out his vodka bottle.

Dempsey shook his head in disbelief. "How the hell does that bottle - no matter how much pressure it gets - manage to stay intact?"

The Soviet sniggered as he took of the cork and took a swig. "I always have a way to drink. No matter where I go, I always find vodka." Dempsey who was now standing up sighed and walked to the VR rocket launcher. He grabbed the over sized weapon and examed it for any noticeable damage. He couldn't see any thankfully, so that was enough to make him exhale in relief.

"This thing looks in good condition." Dempsey announced grabbing another missile and slipping it into the large tube. "Good enough for me. And NO none of you will use it," He glared at everyone that opened their mouths. "Unless you all want another incident like that again?"

Everyone held up their hands quickly saying sentances like "Hell no you do it!" or "No! Polonsky will not have another go!" Dempsey bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing, the looks on their faces...

It was almost worth watching. Almost.

...

"Er, Spyro, where are we and how did we end up here?" Zoidius asked sounding worried. Spyro blinked and looked around, the last thing he remembered was he and Zoidius were persuing a group of apes that spotted them. Then a beam of light blinded them and the next thing he knew, there was alarge group of dragons, moles and cheetahs outside of a temple, there was a large group of dragons, moles and cheetahs outside of a temple, he recognised them. They were the prisoners at the village, but if they were here, then... Where are the humans?

"Zoidius, do you happen to see any humans among us?"

Zoidius quickly took to the sky and looked through the crowd for the humans he was familar with. After a minute or two of searching he landed gracefully in front of Spyro and shook his head in dismay.

"I don't see them anywhere... Spyro, I think they were left behind."

...

Dempsey watched with mild satisfaction as he managed to get a direct hit on the zombie dragon. He punched the air victoriously as Takeo saw peices of the zombified dragon falling to the ground through the lens of his binoculars. He smiled and placed the binoculars into his bag. Seeing the corpse of the dragon falling lifelessly felt good to see, and the dragon guardians were... No longer there?

"Hey, where the hell did the guardians go?" Dempsey wondered, he looked at the rest of the guys behind him and they looked almost as clueless as he did.

Samantha screamed when she saw the missle decimate her prototype zombie. She growled it was a failure and what was worse, Dempsey finally regrouped with his team including three marines that wore similar a similar uniform to him. And there seemed to be a look alike there.

She smiled unexpectedly at this. This plan failed yes, but she still had another one in play. Cynder was back in Warfang right now; and she was going to play a critical part in this next step.

They'll never see it coming...

She watched with mild interest as the seven humans moved in a single group, Dempsey was currently holding the VR rocket launcher. She still didn't have a clue how he managed to pull that thing out of nowhere and he teleported. It must be the abilities he recently received, it's the only explanation she could think of. Dempsey was now even more dangerous to her. A threat that had to be dealt with as soon as possible. If he was aloud to live, then he will eventually become powerful enough to confront her on her own plane of existence.

Dempsey was feeling the changes already. He was stronger than before, he couldn't be burnt and he was able to break the 'Sixth-wall' an ability that was so ridiculously awesome that he was glad that he is the only one who can do it at the moment. He wondered if he could get the waffle weapons by doing that trick, it would make things a whole lot easer on them. But he decided not too. The wonder weapons weren't needed yet.

He glanced at the other others, Miller was a few yards ahead of the group while Polonsky and Roebuck were scanning their surroundings for any enemies. Nikolai and Richtofen took the middle; since they had the SMG and Assault rifle they were going to be the backbone of the group. Takeo was covering their rear end, just in case they get ambushed from behind. And Dempsey, well since he had the rocket launcher he was sort of their heavy hitter and because of this he was behind Nikolai and Richtofen, yet in front of Takeo.

After a few minutes of silence Dempsey unexpectedly stopped; looking around as if he saw something. Everyone else noticed this and formed a circle raising and aiming their guns in every direction. Raising the VR into the air Dempsey pulled the trigger, the rocket shot out of the barrel and flew over Richtofen' and Roebuck's heads. The goggles on the rocket launcher detected six figures nearby, Dempsey skillfully guided the missile to the targets with little to no difficulty.

He smirked brilliantly when he heard a large explosion the moment the rocket crashed into the ground. He dropped the rocket launcher with the same smirk on his lips. Everyone lowered their weapons slightly waiting a command from the wet and dirty Sergeant.

"C'mon," He began, cracking his knuckles for effect. "Let's see what the damage is."


	14. Interlude

Humanity's finest

Interlude

Samantha Maxis watched patently as the small yet growing band of humans walked towards the area the VR rocket crashed. She found Dempsey's new ability to summon weapons out of thin air to be interesting, and wanted to know what else he could do. The side effects that he was experiencing from the Statis pod were making him stronger than she realised. And if she didn't do something about it soon Tank Dempsey would be able to locate her and fight her head on. Right now all of her plans were in motion. Spyro, Zoidius and the dragon guardians; including the group that was with them and the prisoners te apes captured were back in Warfang thanks to her. The fire caused by her prototype zombified dragon was getting closer to the town effectively trapping the humans from all sides.

However, the apes were another matter. They were numerous, yes, but they weren't that intelligent either. She would have to deal with them once their usefulness has run out. Then there were the dragons. Even with Dempsey's new abilities the zombified dragon he fought had outperformed her expectations. Because even with his new abilities Dempsey had trouble fighting it. She would have to make more of them in future projects.

Then there was the fact that she was running short on supplies of Element 115. She would need more of them to continue her works; and the apes would be too stupid to figure out what the rocks look like. Even if they are numerous; they are still hard to locate and they can reanimate dead cells of any living being if they spend too much time near them. Therefore infecting them with the undead virus. She would have to send her own undead minions to dig underground and retreive the rocks before the humans could catch wind of her intentions.

Samantha suddenly turned her head towards the southeast. She could feel something, a disturbance of somekind. She growled as a black aura flickered across her body and want to investigate. By the time she got there she found a very interesting sight: More humans.

But these people weren't like the marines that were with Tank Dempsey. Infact, they were wearing a different sort of uniform. And one of them had a headband and a flackjacket on, including a tattoo that read "SOG TOUGH" and had his rank on.

She grinned wickedly. Things were about to get interesting.


	15. Chapter 15

Humanity's Finest

Part 2 – chapter 1

Everything was ringing in his ears. His ear drums felt like they were going to burst because the ringing was so loud. Opening his eyes slowly so they could adjust to light, Frank Woods blinked repeatedly for several minutes to get his vision working faster before turning his head to look around. Alex Mason was lying face down on the ground a few meters away; and from the blood that dirtied his forehead Frank guessed his comrade had blunt force trauma and would be out of it for a while. Sighing dejectedly to no one in particular Frank bared his teeth as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position while his muscles screamed out in protest. Rubbing the side of his head Frank surveyed his surroundings for anything familiar and too his surprise all he had found was trees. Lot's and lots of trees.

"Oh this is just great." Frank muttered softly with closed eyes. "I have no idea where we both are and from the looks of things the two of us are weapon less. Our situation just keeps getting better and better."

First he, Mason, Bowman and Hudson were under heavy attack from the Viet Cong, then out of nowhere a bright light forced everyone to cover their eyes and they next thing he knew – he ended up in the middle of some jungle with Mason as his only backup. He lost contact with everyone else now and all of his equipment was missing. Some higher plane of existence must like fucking around with him.

Groaning Frank slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to his unconscious brother-in-arms, put his hands securely underneath his arm pits and began dragging Mason away to a new location.

There was no way they were going to stay out in the open. Who knows who's out there? The Viet Cong could still be searching for them at this very moment.

And after he'd put Mason in a secure location he'll go out and search for their missing equipment. His gut telling him that they were somewhere nearby and that he should set out to find them as soon as possible. After a few minutes dragging the unconscious marine was beginning to take its toll on him. Panting lightly Frank looked around before dragging himself and the limp form of Mason to a tree and laid him up against it.

"Not the likely place I'd have chosen but it'll do for now." Frank said, nodding to himself in reassurance. "Stay tight Alex. I'll be back when I do manage to find our gear. If I can't then I'll head straight back here, I just hope you stay put once you wake up." Frank added with an afterthought.

And with that Frank jogged off in the direction he came from beginning his search for their missing equipment.

When Mason opened his eyes he didn't know how long he was unconscious for. But he knew one thing: He was out like a kite for a very long time. The sun was going down and the stars were coming out. And he had a headache the size of a basketball pounding in his head. He looked around and to his dismay realised he was alone in the middle of a jungle of some kind unarmed. Cursing Mason slowly got to his feet. His brain didn't register that he was dragged to where he was.

Groaning at the massive headache he had, Mason massaged the side of his head before looking around with tired eyes. Just… a bunch of pine trees… that seemed to go on forever. Yeah, he was in a Jung- wait, _pine_ trees?

"I don't recall seeing pine trees where I was…" Mason mused. "Where the hell are we?"

"That is what we must find out Mason." A man with a gruff thick Russian accent said. "Dragovich, Kravchenko, Stenier… they cannot be killed by us if we cannot discover where we are…"

Mason turned to look at the man. He had a crewcut, a trimmed beard, light green eyes and had wrinkles under his eyes. His attire consisted of a light green unbuttoned combat jacket, with rolled up sleeves that stopped just over the elbow and wore a black coloured shirt underneath. His trousers were of the same colour as his jacket and wore black army boots.

This man is Captain Viktor Reznov. Who is (unknowingly to Alex Mason) a figment of his imagination, an illusion that was the result of Alex's brainwashing back in Vorkuta.

"I know Reznov. But we can't kill them alone. We need Woods and the others with us. The two of us alone won't be much of a challenge for them to get rid of." Mason said.

Reznov frowned as he considered Alex's words. "True. The two of us alone won't be able to do much…" When Reznov looked down at the ground, he smiled suddenly when he noticed some footprints leading away from them. Along with some drag marks. "It appears that an ally may be nearby." The Soviet informed.

Curiously Alex looked down and his lips twitched before curling upward. Footprints, but these weren't ordinary footprints. They were S.O.G type of footprints, which meant someone he knew, was nearby. He quickly turned his head to the right when he heard a twig snapping, narrowing his eyes Mason quickly took cover behind a tree and pressed his back against the bark.

He leaned slightly to the left and peaked through the edge of the tree and what he saw shocked him. They were apes, but not just any apes, they were walking ones. They walked on their feet like human beings! There five of them in a small group; the teenage sized apes was in nothing but a loincloth, the adult sized ones wore straps of leather that was knitted together to protect the important parts of their body. And the last, well, it was a fucking giant! It wore iron armour that covered most of its body, with leather underneath that offered some added protection. The armour looked like those ancient Greek soldiers used to wear.

The giant ape had a massive steel claymore sheathed on its back (or in the apes case a long sword) and a round steel shield in its left hand. The teenage sized apes had blunt weapons like clubs and a poorly made shield that was made from a combination of wood and leather. The adult sized apes and monkeys had sharper weapons, short swords and spears to name a few. And their shields was somewhere between the giant ape shield and the smaller ones.

"These creatures… they are apes, and the giant one looks well armoured. It appears they are hostile too, my friend. Be careful Mason." Reznov observed before warning Mason with a grave expression.

Mason to his credit didn't reply. Instead the marine reached down to his boot and unsheathed his combat knife that was trapped to his leg underneath the sleeve of his trousers and held it so the tip of the blade was facing the ground while he straightened himself.

"Alright you no good maggots, hold up!" The armoured ape growled out through bared teeth. The apes stopped in mid-step and slowly turned fearfully to their boss. "We're stopping here for a while to rest. Now get your furry asses out of my sight!" The ape bellowed.

Not wanting to bring the giant ape's wrath down on them every monkey and ape broke off and went into different directions. Mason quietly watched the animal's separating as he tightened the grip on the hilt of his knife. Suddenly a lizard with scales white as snow dropped to the ground, before the ape leader could call yell for everyone to come back the lizard leapt onto the ape, knocking it to the ground with all its weight in its front paws before ripping out its throat with its razor sharp teeth.

Mason watched in fascination as the lizard slowly stepped off the ape's corpse, awed at how easily the scaled creature had killed the monkey with little effort. Squinting to get a better look at it Mason saw two horns spouting from the top of its head before curving down. He realised that the creature had wings, but it was the same colour as the scaled that he almost missed it' and it was wrapped around its back. The tail had three sharp pikes on the outside, three on the sides and another pair on the bottom.

He hunched slightly when it began to hum a tune. "Hmm, those apes are going to be so clueless and afraid when they realise you're gone." Mason realised the creature was a she from the voice. Slowly the lizard turned her head and looked in the direction Mason was hiding with a bloody toothy smile. Mason slowly looked away, "Human, if you wish to know where you are, you won't find it here. Take your friend and go northeast, you'll find the remnants of your species stationed there."

"Go Mason. She knows we're here, but be cautious." Urged Reznov.

Nodding at Reznov's words' Mason cautiously stepped out in the open, revealing himself to the animal with his hands raised to show that he wasn't a threat. "…Thank you." He said with sincerity. He looked at the corpse behind the lizard and resisted the urge to gag in disgust at the sight. So he quickly brought his gaze to the white scaled lizard instead. "I'm not sure if I'll see you again, but, can you answer these two questions for me? What are you and what is your name?"

The scaled animal smiled at him with closed eyes. "A human asked me that very question a long time ago." Mason raised a brow at that. "In the order you asked: I'm a dragoness, one of the few that remains alive and… my name is Flaria"

"Flaria…" Mason paused and tried to phrase what he should say next. "That's a nice name?" I said tried didn't I?

"Thank you." Flaria giggled with a smile. She suddenly looked back and growled. "Those apes are still nearby. I'll deal with them - you go find your friend, human."

"Do you know which direction he went?"

Flaria frowned and sniffed the air for a scent similar to the humans. Which wasn't easy since the area was now dominated by monkeys and apes. Then she pointed to her right with her tail a few minutes later and said "Follow the footprints, they'll lead you too him. And be careful these creatures are a lot smarter and tougher than the ones of your time."

Before Mason could ask her what she had meant; Flaria took off like a bolt of lightning into the bushes and terrified screams followed soon after. Shuddering as the cries sounded more like the screeching of tortured animals' Mason quickly looked at the ground and followed the footprints left behind by Woods.

….

Woods cursed as he ducked under the overhead slash by an adult sized ape, and blocked another with a sword he had managed to grapple out of the hands of another. The apes had come out of nowhere when he was searching for his and Mason's gear and had took him completely by surprise. He jumped when a monkey tried to take off his feet and retaliated by bringing down his sword, intending to behead it there. But the sword was blocked by another and before Woods had a chance to react he had the air knocked out of him when a gloved fist decked him in the abdomen. He staggered somehow keeping the grip on the hilt of the sword and raised it to block an attack that intended to slice his head in two.

When the two blades met Woods was shocked by the ape's strength and was almost forced to his knees. Gritting his teeth Woods narrowed his eyes in determination and slowly pushed the ape back, he narrowed his eyes even more when no one attacked while he was occupied. He was confused because this was a perfect opportunity for them to kill him, and taking a daring yet very quick glance around him' Woods was surprised that the apes were hanging back even if their weapons were branched.

Now Woods is a battle hardened marine and when he is in the middle of a battle, he would do everything he could to win said battle. And seeing that all escape routes were effectively blocked off by these apes, Woods decided to do a tactic that he was sure wouldn't work. But since they were apes; there was a chance it would work.

"Look!" Woods exclaimed at the top of his voice so everyone could hear. "There are bananas in that tree over there!"

When the apes widened their eyes they eagerly looked around for their delicious bananas and missed the gobsmacked expression of disbelief on Woods's face. Frank blinked repeatedly in disbelief at the scene and inwardly thanked whatever god was out there for making apes liking bananas before hiking it out of there. He was given a chance to escape from these freaks of nature and for the love of whatever god was watching down on him, he was going to take it!

…

Samantha Maxis was rolling on the floor laughing her ass off. Literally. Even if there wasn't a floor to roll around on.

While she was a bit peeved that the apes were fooled that easily, she couldn't help but laugh at how they were fooled. Apes loved bananas back when humans were the dominant species and they seem to love it even more now and Woods unknowingly took advantage of it.

Thanking Woods for that little laugh – even if he couldn't hear it – she decided to give him a little gift that would help both him and his friend. Flexing her fingers Samantha threw her arm out and smiled darkly as a small beam of light came from her digits. While this will help the SOG soldier greatly he will get attacked from her expendable minions the moment Frank touches it. After all she did need to know how skilled these humans were compared to the ones she knows.

That reminded her… She needed to get back and screw around with them a bit more.

…

Mason moved through the bushes with his combat knife held in his left hand. The apes were now on full alert thanks to Flaria and Reznov took off to find some weapons. He stopped and covered his mouth with his free hand when he came across a small group of apes patrolling the path in front of him. Narrowing his eyes at the dangerous situation he had found himself in Mason quickly looked around for a path to sneak past them. There wasn't much to his dismay. Realising the only way to get past them was by careful timing and skill Mason tightened the grip of the hilt of his knife and patently waited for an opening.

"Wait for their backs to turn then strike." Mason told himself.

Twirling the hilt of the knife in his palm Mason slowly stalked his way toward his first target and when the ape's backs were turned he lunged. He covered the apes mouth so it couldn't cry out in alarm, bringing up the knife Mason drove the blade through the animal's throat before ripping it out. Seeing the eyes of the monkey glaze over feeling the monkey becoming limp in his arms, Mason quickly dragged the corpse out of sight and hid it behind some bushes.

Exhaling sharply in relief Mason ran the flat side of his knife on the corpse's fur to wipe the blood off. The easy part was finished, now comes the hard part – keeping hidden. Once they realise one of their own is gone they'll conduct a search and there was two ways this would end up.

They will find him.

Or they will find the body of their comrade.

And Mason intended to be away from them before that happened.

Mason cursed at the situation, if he had an M-16 assault rifle, or a Spaz-12 on him then he could blow these apes to kingdom Kong before they knew what'd hit them! Sighing dejectedly Mason searched the corpse for anything useful. He quickly found a sword the size of his arm and eagerly took that as it was better than the combat knife. He took the sheath and strapped it too his back and made the hilt easy to reach for him to grab. He found a pouch full of crudely made explosives. Raising a curious brow Mason took the pouch and strapped it to his waist. They looked awfully similar to those grenades that the pirates of old had used and if his gut was right then the grenades he had were possibly more deadly than the ones he was used to using. Searching thoroughly through the pouch, Mason felt his hands brush against something hard. Frowning he grabbed the object and pulled it out. Mason smiled when he realised what he had found. The ape had a lighter to light the fuse!

"There is no use in letting it go to waste when the dead can't use it." Mason murmured.

Meanwhile with Frank Woods…

"This is a little crazy for my liking… And I am sure I haven't been drinking…!" Frank muttered in between pants.

Frank's been running in the direction he came from for several minutes and was pushing himself so he could get back to Alex as quickly as he could. However with all the apes patrolling Frank was forced to sneak past them, and often he had to brutally take down a few when they were blocking the path he needed to take.

And now he was taking a much needed yet temporary break to rest his legs and was on the look out for more apes. The monkeys were hostile, that much was proven when they spot him wondering about and without warning they attacked for absolutely no reason. They were intelligent beings too, because they were able to follow orders and attack in a group' but like monkeys and apes they had their fair share of weaknesses. Banana's being one.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, I still can't believe they fell for that!" Frank chuckled with mirth while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hmm?" Frank looked up when he heard a sound resembling static electricity. His eyes widened and his eyebrows arched when he saw a glowing object that resembled a gun floating in front of him. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion Frank readied the sword he stole and cautiously walked toward the floating weapon.

Frank curiously examined the weapon in front of him with squinted eyes. "…A Commando Assault Rifle?" He said to himself. The tone of his voice showed interest. "And it's engraved and silver instead of iron? Odd…" He added after further examination.

He reached out to touch it….

"_DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT!" _

Then suddenly without warning, a disembodied voice of a man screamed at him from out of nowhere. Frank literally jumped several feet into the air in surprise while screaming like a frightened little girl. He landed smack on his ass causing dust to kick up from the ground around him. Quickly getting to his feet Frank quickly looked around while brushing his hands on his arms and clothes to clean the dirt and dust that settled on him, when he found no one around Frank let out a sigh of relief and chuckled lightly. His reputation as a badass was preserved. If anyone found out he screamed like a girl no one would live it down.

"Who the hell said that!" Frank demanded loudly as he snapped his head in every direction, with his sword held protectively in front of him. "Come out and face me! I know you're here!" He demanded fiercely.

Frank could hear the sneer in the disembodied voice as he spoke._ "And what pray tell, are you going to do if I don't hmmm? Are you going to slash that thing until your arm tires? Are you going to curse at me until you run out of words you know? Tell me marine, I would really like to know…"_

"You fucker!" Frank cursed. "Do you have any idea who the hell you're speaking too!"

"_Sergeant Frank Woods, leader of the S.O.G a branch of special forces that was created by the Pentagon in the United States of America. Your mission is to take out a Russian known as Dragovich. You're father was in the Second World War, a war which took the lives of billions of innocent and 'not' so innocent people' if I might so boldly add. Comrades are Alex Mason, Weaver, Bowman and Hudson of the C.I.A. So even if the information is wrong, I still know more than enough about you that misinformation is irrelevant."_

"…How did you find about that?" Frank asked after a moment of silence.

"_How I came to know about you doesn't matter."_ The voice said with a dismissive tone._ "But know this: There are more important things going on in this world that you could not and might ever not be able to comprehend. Listen, go to the Northeast, that is where the remnants of your species are located - it is where your comrade Alex Mason' is going to go once he locates you. But remember, for you all to survive you will have to put aside your petty hatred of those who caused so much pain in the Second Great War."_

"'Put aside my petty hatred'? What are you talking about?" Frank demanded.

"_I gave you your answer, marine. It is up to you if you are to follow it or not."_

Frank opened his mouth to make a sarcastic reply until-

"Hey Woods! Are you here?"

The voice of one Alex Mason completely broke him from his ranting. Blinking Frank turned to the direction the voice came from and to his surprise he saw Mason jumping out of some bushes, with a sword strapped in its sheathe along his back and a pouch on his belt.

Frank allowed a smile of relief show on his face as he patted Mason on the shoulder. "Mason I am glad to see you save and sound!"

Mason had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, well, considering the fact that I've been hiding and killing monkeys that are the size of a horse or taller for the past twenty minutes or so, I wouldn't exactly call that 'safe'." He said sarcastically.

Frank chuckled mirthlessly. "I was doing the same thing. So I know how you feel." He said, recalling the apes he had to sneak by and kill to avoid getting spotted a while ago.

….

Polonsky whistled in awe at the destruction the missile brought upon the remains of the undead dragon when the marines, Soviet, Nazi and Japanese alike all gathered to one spot. The Valkyrie launcher was nothing like the M9A1 Bazooka, in fact, the Valkyrie launcher was so advanced for Polonsky that it had completely blew his imagination! Imagine! Remote controlled rockets! If the Marine Raiders' had these back in Peleliu not only would the Japanese Armoured Tanks be easer to destroy, but it would keep the Anti-tank personal out of harm away because they often needed a clear view of the tank of the battlefield.

If he managed to survive this and get back home to his comrades' he was totally going to forward this idea to his superiors! But first he needed to design it… Yeah, designing rocket launchers would have to be put on hold for now. Survival first, designing things later… Yeah…he can almost feel giddy about it!

"Roebuck… Is it just me or does that look Polonsky has on his face appeared to be… well… orgasmic?" Miller whispered awkwardly to his superior while looking at Polonsky with a highly disturbed expression on his face.

Roebuck looked at the young teen and resisted the urge to shudder. That expression was just wrong on the kid's face!

"Jesus…" Roebuck whispered. "Miller, whatever happens do not interfere OK?"

Miller didn't get the chance to reply, because Roebuck was already walking to Polonsky's side… while cracking his knuckles?

Oh… now he understood, Roebuck was going to beat some sense into the teen.

Quite literally.

Dempsey walked up to the now re-dead corpse of the dead, knelt down beside it and examined it thoroughly for sighing in relief. "Well that fucker ain't getting' back up again." Dempsey stated as he slowly got back to his feet. His brows furrowed when he saw something flash at the corner of his eyes.

Unholistering his M1911A1 Tank quickly took off the safety and took aim, and he wasn't surprised to see a transparent form of a blonde haired, blue eyed child with sickly pale skin staring down at the barrel of his pistol with unimpressed eyes.

Looking up from the gun the girls eyes crinkled with amusement as she silently gazed at everyone who was with him. Apparently they weren't expecting her to appear, if their wide eyes were any definition. She cocked her head slightly when she saw Richtofen staring at her with wide eyes, as if he had seen a ghost from the past. She smirked deviously at the Nazi when she waved at him, her deathly blue eyes boring into his.

"Hello… Uncle Edward…"


	16. Chapter 16

Humanity's Finest: Part 2

Chapter 2

"Oh you gotta be shitting me." Dempsey cursed; his eyes were wide as Samantha slowly brought her gaze onto him.

She tilted her head with an innocent expression on her deathly pale face as she regarded the marine. Her eyes flashed with dark intent before she turned to Richtofen and her gaze softened slightly. Her eyes began to water as she looked at someone who she considered an uncle, with a hurtful expression on her face.

"Uncle Edward… Why did you betray me and Vati?" Samantha asked. Richtofen stiffened and his jaw clenched when unwanted memories began to surface. "I trusted you. Vati trusted you. So WHY DID YOU KILL US?" She demanded, her voice becoming higher pitched and demonic at the end.

Everyone recoiled at the raw anger of the phantom was showing. Slowly, very slowly, everyone turned to Richtofen for answers. But the man was just as speechless as them. Inhaling and holding his breath for several seconds, Richtofen exhaled sharply before steeling his resolve. He knew he was going to face the demons of his past sooner or later, but damit, he wanted to do it on his terms!

He didn't want it to be like this.

However seeing one of his past regrets right in front of him, it made it that much harder to breathe. He may be a lunatic without morals, but, even he can come to regret things he did. Killing a child that thought of you as an uncle went into that category.

"Samantha," Richtofen slowly began as he slowly took a few steps toward the spirit. "I know you're angry vith me-"

"ANGRY!" The girl bellowed, her face twisting in pure unadulterated rage. "I AM NOT ANGRY, UNCLE EDWARD! I AM FUCKING FURIOUS YOU SCHWEIN, YOU LOCKED ME IN THE TESTING LABS WITH MY DADDY AND LEFT US TOO DIE WITH FLUFFY!"

"Wait. Fluffy?" Dempsey said with confusion. His eyes suddenly widened in realisation and remembrance, and also a bit of fear. "Shit. That's the mother of all hellhounds, right?" He looked at Richtofen for confirmation. Richtofen nodded and Dempsey slowly looked at Samantha who was grinning darkly at him.

"Oh, shit…"

Samantha was now giggling. It wasn't a giggle that would make a person feel bubbly inside, it's the kind of giggle that said; "You're in deep shit now, start running!" and the giggle was slowly becoming a demonic laughter that the zombie slayers were all too familiar with.

"We had better get ready." Nikolai warned everyone, aiming the AK74 in his hands in every direction in case they were about to be attacked.

"Get ready for what?" Miller asked, following the Soviet's example and looked through the sights of his Thompson submachine gun. "What's coming?"

"Unrelenting hell kid," Dempsey answered grimly. "I wish I had my M-14 rifle in my hands, right about now."

Blinking Miller reached to his hoister and took out the spare handgun, the CZ-75. He stared at the pistol for a few seconds before handing it Dempsey.

When the marine stared at him in confusion, Miller shrugged at him and simply said "You'll need this more than I do."

Dempsey nodded in understanding and took the pistol out of Polonsky's hands with a nod. He twirled the modern pistol in his palm before holstering it, and looked back at Polonsky who was now holding out five magazines for said pistol to him. Chucking sheepishly, Dempsey took possession of the ammunition and pocketed them.

"So, Samantha, apart from wanting killing the lot of us, what do you want exactly?" Dempsey asked with a calculating eye.

"That is for me to know and for you to find out." She replied cryptically before a dark smile spread across her lips, which put everyone on edge. "Hope you enjoy playing my new game!" She suddenly added, in a demonic voice that only Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen recognised before a foggy mist rolled in.

Tank Dempsey… the most battle hardened marine you would ever meet had actually panicked.

"SHIT! DOGS!"

Then all hell broke loose.

X.X.X.X

The jungle can be the most dangerous place on the face of the planet in the wrong situations, with the dessert being right up there with it. With wild lions, tigers, cheetahs lying in wait waiting for you to make a mistake before they go in for the kill. But for Mason and Woods the threat wasn't any of those mentioned above – oh no, the main threat to them would be the giant human-walking, talking monkeys that can jump several feet in the air. The only thing keeping the two S.O.G marines alive at the moment was skulking around in the bushes and hiding behind trees.

"This is ridiculous," Mason whispered to Woods harshly as the two hid themselves behind some tree stomps. The apes were ahead of them and they were on the lookout for something. "We can't hide from them forever!"

"I know that!" Woods hissed in annoyance. "But right now all we've got are crudely made grenades and swords, and those monkeys got the numbers on their side."

Narrowing his eyes Mason peeked above the edge of the stump and saw a large group of apes, holding weapons from butchering knives to claymores were packed rather closely. He realised a few well thrown grenades could kill them and he had a few crudely made grenades to get rid of. Reaching into his pouch, Mason took out crudely made grenades and a lighter, placed one on the explosives on the ground beside him and looked carefully at the apes ahead of him.

When Frank saw Mason lighting up the lighter, he realised what the marine was going to do. And truthfully he thought Mason was insane.

If only he knew.

"Mason!" Frank hissed in a quiet whisper, "What the hell are you doing?"

Alex didn't even look at him. Or show any sign of acknowledging him. Watching Mason light the fuse, Woods saw the curves of his friends lips twitch upwards. And when Mason drew his arm back Woods didn't attempt at preventing his friend from giving away their position, because if they wanted to put out the fire they'd have to use the skin on their fingers to do it.

And using a combat knife to sever the fuse would be difficult when said explosive felt like it was ten pounds in weight.

"Let's see what kind of damage this thing can do!" Mason growled softly, before rolling the sphere toward the group. The S.O.G marine watched the explosive with anticipation when the apes looked down at the grenade with curious eyes. And not wasting any time Mason quickly lit up the other explosive and rolled it in another direction toward a group that was separating from the main body.

Frank slowly edged away when he saw and heard Mason crackling silently in anticipation, and to his shock Alex laughed like a lunatic when the grenades exploded five seconds after one another and caught the apes in an explosion of fire, powder and shrapnel. Those who were lucky were thrown off their feet, but still had shrapnel embedded in nonvital areas of their bodies

"Damit Mason," Woods cursed when Alex took his sword out of its scabbard and approached the apes that were lucky enough to escape the explosion. Unsheathing his sword Frank got out of his hiding place and slowly walked toward an ape that was trying to crawl to safety. "That could've alerted everyone to our location."

"They were in our way." Mason said grunting as he stabbed an ape through the heart, and moved off to put another monkey out of its misery. "Hiding from them would only go so far."

"We could've waited until they passed though,"

Mason scoffed and said in a deadpan, "There was a good chance they would've spotted us if we did let them pass."

Woods sighed in defeat and slowly shook his head. There wasn't any point in arguing with him over this. Mason was already hell bent on killing the survivors and anyone else in the area surely had heard the explosion, and was likely coming to investigate. Unsheathing his sword from its scabbard Woods went to help his friend kill the survivors. They couldn't have anyone telling their superiors which direction they went after they've left now could they? After five minutes of ending the apes lives Mason and Woods put their swords back into their scabbards and continued moving in the direction they were originally heading in; toward the other humans that the mysterious voice had told Frank about. After fifteen minutes of walking cluelessly through the forest' both Mason and Woods were cursing themselves in their minds for not having a compass on their possession to show which direction they were walking in. They didn't know which way was north, east, south or west. And they couldn't use the sun to know which direction was which, because the sun was in the middle of the sky, and because of that none of them were able to tell which direction they were walking in either.

Walking a few inches away from each other; with Mason covering their flank and Woods scanning their front constantly for the new enemy', the two were mostly forced to stop and listen to their surroundings before taking cover behind some trees when they heard apes approaching. They also took note that the more they walked on the more apes they encountered patrolling – but managed to either hide or avoid them completely.

Most of them were close calls too.

They went on for several more minutes until by sheer luck; they came across an abandoned shack that was surrounded by a swamp. It was of moderate size, with a single floor and with its location in the middle of a murky swamp is easily defendable from attacks. They were tired but after some persuasion from Mason, both he and Woods took shelter in the shack and the moment they two entered the double doors unexpectedly shut behind them.

Cursing loudly when the door wouldn't budge Woods turned to Mason and gave him the 'I told you so!' glare.

"_Greetings gentlemen, and welcome to __**my**____shack."_ A disembodied voice said, with a distinctive feminine tone. Both woods and Mason looked around with their hands hovering above the hilts of their sword, ready to draw them at a moments notice. _"I want to play a game with the two of you."_

Mason was brave enough to speak, "What kind of game?"

The disembodied voice chuckled, seemingly with mirth, or anticipation. _"A riddle,"_ The voice answered with an inane giggle._ "If you can guess the answer to my riddle correctly, I'll let you stay here, unharmed, and I'll even throw in a few choices that will help you get back to your brethren."_ The voice bargained.

It was tempting. A riddle and they would be allowed to stay in the shack, unharmed and they'll allow a few choices that will get them to their… brethren?

"Alright. Give us your riddle!" Woods said with confidently.

The disembodied voice giggled with excitement. _"Ok, this is a good one that took me a few years to come up with. This is my riddle: I am always there, but never spoken. But when there is sound, I am broken. What am I?" _

"Question: Do we have a time limit?" Mason asked.

"_Answer: What do you think?" _The voice teased.

Woods was able to sum up their situation with one simple word, "Shit..."

"Another question: How many guesses do we have?" Mason asked again. There was something wrong with this, and his gut was telling him there was more to this riddle than meets the eye. And before he could answer the riddle, he needed information; the obvious one what he had asked seconds ago.

"_Hehehe. Answer: You have three guesses, no more, no less." _

Mason smirked at the answer the voice had given. Now most people, when told they have three guesses usually have to think hard to come up with an answer that they would most likely be correct for their question. In both Mason and Wood's case, it was for a riddle. And while the benefits of getting it right looked good, the consequences would likely be dire. But thanks to his ever calculating brain Mason had discovered a loophole in the girls little game.

The voice didn't say anything about them both having three choices between them.

And that was something Mason was going to use to his full advantage.

Reciting the words in his head carefully, Mason opened his mouth to give his answer. "Is the answer to your riddle; noise?"

"_Nope! Two chances left!" _The voice said gleefully. But Mason wasn't deterred in the slightest, he had two chances; but Woods still had his three.

Mason turned to his friend, "Frank, it's your turn."

Woods blinked and gave Mason a questioning look with his eyes. And when Mason didn't say anything and stared blankly at him Woods sighed and wracked his brain for the most logical answer for the voices riddle. "Fine, is the answer to your riddle, speech?" He wasn't really thinking about his answer, and threw out the first thing that came to mind and would likely be correct.

The riddle resolved around sound after all.

"_Nope! You have one chance left!"_ Woods cursed and would've said sorry to his friend until he saw the smirk on his lips.

"I don't think so." Mason shot back with a confident grin.

There was a pause, _"What… Are you questioning' my rules?" _

"No not really. I just found a loophole in your game." Woods gave Mason a look that demanded him to explain. "She said to me - but mainly us - that I had three guesses to get the correct answer to her riddle. But she didn't say that you and I had three guesses between us."

There was a brief silence that was broken by the voice, who was chuckling to herself. _"You're the first one to figure that out. The apes, cheetahs and sometimes moles weren't always that smart when it came to the loopholes in my games. I commend you on finding it out." _

"Ok, it's my turn to guess again." Mason said to himself as he exhaled. "The riddle resolves around sound, that much I gathered. But the clues to the answer are in the riddle itself… 'I am always there, but never spoken. But when there is sound, I am broken…' I'd say… silence."

There was a pause where no one spoke. The silence was deafening. Both Mason and Woods were waiting with baited breath for their answer, and the suspense was slowly getting to them. The silence was broken by mirthful laughter from their mysterious riddle giver.

"_You, are, correct. Congratulations, now, to clear things up' you both have an option."_ As if on cue, a computer screen with a keyboard and mouse appeared along with a desk on the far end of the room in a beam of light. Suddenly the girl's voice began speaking like she was lecturing a bunch of five year olds. _"That machine in front of you is called a 'computer' and it can bring whatever you request directly to you. Imagine it being like a delivery that a postman brings, but only a thousand times better!"_

Both Mason and Woods slowly looked at each other. And the two S.O.G marines silently conversed with one another by their eyes. There was a lot of silent debating and reluctance' in their eyes but eventually one of them relented. When Mason got on the computer first, his eyes lit up when he saw some WW2 weapons mixed with the weapons he uses today. And each weapon had a bottle or two to go with it, which in Mason's opinion cool because he was thirsty at the moment.

There was a Spaz 12 shotgun, which had a red and green bottle that said Juggernaut and Speed Cola on it.

Next was a Thompson submachine gun with a bottle of root beer.

And the list went on. Scrolling down the page to see if there was any other options' he paused for a brief moment when he thought he saw a link saying "Reinforcements" and when he blinked and still saw it, Mason moved the mouse curser toward the link and clicked on it. He brows arched in surprise when he saw two familiar faces, a bald man in his mid to late thirties with nasty looking scars on his face and had sunglasses covering his eyes. The other man appeared to be in his early to middle thirties had a moustache and had an eye patch covering his right eye. All in all the two looked serious and knowing them both personally, they are good men to have at your back.

And from Woods's excited and gleeful expression the man was thinking along the same line as he was. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth Mason quickly moved the curser toward the two men and clicked on them. And logic be dammed a rip in time appeared out of nowhere, and quite literally tossed out the two men that Mason clicked on. The two landed on their stomachs, causing all the air to eject forcibly from their lungs.

"Why do I feel like I've been hit by a truck?" The man in the eye patch said rhetorically.

The scarred faced man looked up, and his eyebrows rose over his sunglasses showing his surprise. He quickly got to his feet and removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Mason? Woods? Is that really you?" He questioned in disbelief.

Both Mason and Woods smirked, "Nice to see you too Mr. Shades." Mason said as he crossed his arms. He looked at the Russian and help him too his feet when he saw the man slowly getting up.

Woods saluted the two men with respect and said as he lowered his hand to his side, "Hudson, Weaver, its darn good to have you guys here' but we're in trouble. A lot of trouble and I don't mean the Dragovich and Kravchenko kind either. Neither of us knows what the hell is going on; nor do we know what time period we're in. Something had changed and we don't know what. The apes we know are one of the things that had changed."

"Changed? Changed how?" Hudson asked, taking off his shades to show how serious he is.

Mason gave them the answer, "The being able to walk and talk like us, kind of changed?"

Both Weaver and Hudson stared at the two as if they were insane. But when the two's facial expression didn't change, they began to realise they were actually serious.

"You're actually serious?" Weaver asked shaking his head in disbelief. "Their able to walk and talk like us?"

Woods nodded solemnly, "Yep. The fact that they can use armour, swords and frickin bombs makes them a force to be reckoned with. The two of us have been sneaking around, gathering what equipment we can and used them against their creators." He jerked a thumb to Mason. "Alex, here, has a full bag of explosive the apes use."

As if on cue Mason took the bag off his belt and handed it to Hudson. Showing surprise at how heavy the bag was Hudson opened it and carefully pulled out the explosive and whistled in awe at the size. It was a massive iron sphere, with a large fuse at the tip.

Weaver carefully took it away from Hudson when the scarred man gave it to him, and had to shake his head at how heavy it was when he held it. "Crude and overweight, the thing is a liability given its size and weight."

"Still they have their uses. The apes never expected to have their own weapons used against them. And Mason and I had managed to take out a group of the bastards, with only two of them just a short while ago." Woods proudly told them of their exploits.

Woods quickly became serious before anyone could comment on it however, and walked to the computer to put in his choice. While Woods was doing that Mason was standing at the door, peaking through the opening gap to see if there was any apes approaching. Although the voice said they were safe inside the building, Mason wasn't going to take any chances. It was better for someone to stand guard and be a lookout for them than to be completely defenceless and caught unawares by an attack.

"Still," Mason began under his breath. "With our numbers increased by two we should have a better chance at taking those monkeys on."

Woods found three categories that he could choose on the computer. They were "Tactical" and "Assault" and "Stealth". Picking the Tactical category Woods found the whole entire page was full of short to medium range shotguns, explosives like C4 and Claymores. He raised an eyebrow when he found a China Lake grenade launcher, a Panzershrek and an M2 Bazooka in the selection too.

"One modernized weapon, and two rocket launchers that haven't been used since the Second World War? I wonder what the Assault section has…"

Woods quickly found out when the Assault category was filled with both WW2 and Modern weapons, like the M1A1 Thompson or commonly known as "The Tommy Gun", an M-16 Assault Rifle with a flamethrower attachment, an MP40 and Type 100. He even found the infamous B.A.R (Browning Automatic Rifle). And it wasn't just the American's, German and Japanese weapons that could be chosen' there was Soviet weapons too.

Shaking his head Woods went to the Stealth category. He wasn't surprised to find that the whole page was full of bolt action and gas-operated sniper rifles with silencers on them. The Springfield had a scope and silencer attached to it, the German Kar98 looked silver and had engravings on it' but had no scope on it.

There were so many choices in these categories but Woods wanted more than one weapon. Besides with him having a highly powered weapon like the FG-42 while everyone else was stuck using swords was not a good balance.

X.X.X.X

Nikolai screamed out loud in a high pitch when a hellhound was close to biting off his family jewels. Swiftly taking out his knife the Soviet swung, stabbed and slashed at the hellhound in a desperate attempt to force the demonically transformed dog away from his groin. It worked for the most part. But the hellhound only bared its teeth in anger and went in for another bite, with its claws brandished and ready to tear. Luckily for Nikolai, salvation arrived in the form of Richtofen and Takeo who used their MP40 and AK74u to force the dog off in another direction. Dempsey and Polonsky were covering each others backs as the dogs tried to swarm them from every side. Ejecting the empty clip from the CZ75 Dempsey quickly grabbed another and slipped it inside the slot, and quickly unsheathed his knife and rammed it underneath a hellhound's snout when it leapt at him. Growling as both marine and dog were knocked to the ground; Dempsey quickly pressed the barrel of his pistol in the side of the demonic dogs head and ruthlessly pulled the trigger.

The hellhound howled in anguish before it blew up in smoke and flames. Tank hacked and coughed when he accidentally breathed in some toxic fumes, and started pounding against his chest in an effort to force the fumes out of his lungs. Spitting the saliva that was building in his mouth Dempsey cleaned his mouth with the outside of his arm before screaming a curse when a dog landed on top of him. Polonsky luckily enough saw the hellhound about to tear into Tank's throat and he turned and brought his boot down on the dogs head. The hellhound wasn't expecting a boot to be shoved on its head, and the force of the kick was enough to force the hellhound to stagger away. When the dog regained its bearings turned to face the person that distracted it, only to narrow its eyes in defiance when it found a barrel of a M1919 Browning in its face.

It howled in agony before dispersing in flames and smoke when 30. Caliber bullets, curtsy of the Browning, easily tore through its face like paper.

"Did you fight these things all the time?" Polonsky yelled over the carnage.

"Yeah! They were and still are fucking annoying to deal with!" Dempsey replied as he quickly got to his feet.

Polonsky chuckled in spite of the situation. "I can see why,"

The seven were facing a growing problem. The mist was seemingly thickening and it was beginning to impede with their eyesight, making it difficult to see which direction the hellhounds were coming from. The hellhounds with flames covering their entire body were somewhat easy to spot, but eventually, they'll be hard to spot from within the mist.

"We need to regroup with everyone else!" Dempsey yelled.

Polonsky nodded in agreement. He didn't care if there was a Nazi amongst them. He was helping them survive and that was good enough for him to fight along side the racist bastard. With that the two Marine Raiders followed the sounds of gunfire in the mist, and scanned their surroundings for more hellhounds that were likely waiting in hiding. Having a weapon that fires 30. Caliber bullets was a massive help when both Dempsey and Polonsky were ambushed, and having a semi-automatic pistol that carries more than eight bullets and fires 19mm bullets helped a bit too!

"I love this gun!" Dempsey laughed joyously, as he emptied an entire clip into three hellhounds that attempted to flank them. He quickly took out the empty magazine from the slot and placed another in its place, before switching to his M1911 Colt.

While not being able to carry as many bullets like the CZ75, the .Colt (and sometimes the CZ75) is one of two weapons known that is capable of firing bullet sized grenades once upgraded. But it had to be Pack-A-Punched in order for that to happen.

"Tank, why the heck are you using the .Colt?" Polonsky asked when he realised his lookalike wasn't using the more advanced and effective CZ75.

Dempsey didn't know how Polonsky saw him using a different gun, given how dense the fog has gotten since they set off on finding their comrades. He shrugged his shoulders; even if he was sure Polonsky couldn't see him and said in a quiet tone. "I want to save ammo for later use. These hellhounds tend to spawn like crazy if you kill enough of 'em. So, I want to use my .Colt first, then the 75 later."

"Oh, that seems reasonable." Polonsky replied.

The silence was deafening, apart from the occurring gunfire and the dying howls of anguish coming from the hellhounds until Polonsky broke it.

"Actually that doesn't seem reasonable. That seems stupid!"

Dempsey arched an eyebrow, "Its actually better getting rid of your weak weapons first and using the more powerful weapons later." The blonde haired marine wisely pointed out, as he nodded his head to himself sagely. "It's how the rules of Samantha's little game works. The weapons we buy are strong at first, but later on," He lifted his .Colt and twirled it in his palm. "The guns gradually get weaker and weaker until they do jack shit on them-" He stopped twirling the .Colt and quickly took aim at a hellhound that was trying to catch Polonsky unawares.

It took a whole magazine to its head just to bring the dammed thing down.

He then continued as if he weren't interrupted. "-and now, it would take an entire clip from this gun just to bring one of them down."

While Polonsky and Dempsey were making their way back to the others, Roebuck and Miller were holding their ground from inside a building where the prisoners used to be held. Roebuck with his B.A.R was firing out of the door at any hellhounds that were approaching. Miller with his Thompson was standing in reserve' and was going to take Roebuck's place when he needed reloading. That was until the hellhounds decided to get smart and started teleporting inside the very building they were in. With a curse that was censored and removed from this story for the foulness of it, Miller swiftly turned on his heel and opened fire at the hellhounds before they could move. Five bullets for one demonically transformed dog, ten for another two, reload the submachine gun while Roebuck covered him and repeat the process. For Roebuck it was fairly the same thing. He would open fire on the hellhounds when his friend needed to reload his submachine gun, before reloading himself.

Also to make sure they don't get flanked, the two Marine Raiders slowly moved toward the nearest corner in the room and began a process which snipers had called "camping". It was extremely effective against the dogs because they had no choice but to appear in front of them, and Roebuck and Miller were able to kill them quickly once they were spotted. And the continuously thickening mist did little to hide them if the flashing spheres of light their in gave away their location the moment they appear.

The system both Roebuck and Miller were using was this:

Roebuck was knelling down in the front. Miller was standing at the back. Roebuck would unleash hell upon the hellhounds until he needed to reload, and then Miller would pick up the slack and fire at the demonic looking dogs until he needed to reload. Of course if the hellhounds were to get smart and gang up on them then the system the marines are using is null and void.

Then everything from there is fair game.

Pulling the pin out of a pineapple grenade, Miller drew back his arm and held it there for a few seconds before throwing the grenade into the fog. Moments later there was an explosion of shrapnel and gunpowder' followed by the surprised yelps of the hellhounds. Closing one eye Roebuck carefully aimed through the sights of his B.A.R and opened fire on a hellhound he spotted limping towards them.

The hellhound didn't have a change to roar when bullets tore through its head and into its brain. The hellhound silently fell forward on its knees, and blood seeped out of its wounds and onto the floor. The stench of decay was thick, but Roebuck and Miller were used to it since they were forced to step over the rotten corpses of their fallen brothers in arms and enemies.

The two marines quickly reloaded their weapons and waited for the dogs to teleport into the building again. But after a few minutes of silence, the fog that was slowly blinding them began to let up.

Miller breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's that."

Roebuck nodded his head in complete agreement with relief evident in his voice, "Yeah. Let's go see if the others are ok or not." Miller didn't need to hear anymore. He was internally glad that he wasn't alone in this fight' and had someone he knew watching his back.

Nikolai screamed like a girl when a largely packed group of hellhounds chased after him as he ran around in circles. When they came close to taking a chunk out of his ass the soviet sprinted as fast as he could to get a little distance away from them. Takeo and Richtofen had taken refuge on top of a rooftop that gave them a good view of their surroundings. And they were using said rooftop to watch Nikolai running around with nearly thirty to thirty five hellhounds chasing after him.

Takeo being the honourable Samurai, wanted to state his honour, and therefore left Nikolai to his doom while ignoring his screams for help as he sat in a meditative state, muttering some Japanese proverbs under his breath. He stroked his AK74u that rested in his crossed legs like it was a cat.

Richtofen being the unstable, insane bastard that he is' took joy in watching his Cossack friend getting chased around. He would often help Nikolai' by removing off a large group of dogs off of the face of the earth with his MP40, until the fog so dense he could hardly see anything. Then he had to stop and wait to see if Nikolai pulled through, or got nommed by hellhounds.

"No! Naughty boy, down! I said to STAY THE FUCK DOWN!" Nikolai bellowed. This was followed by the sound of his AK47 going off, grunting and the sound of glass shattering and the distressed howls of his pursuers. "Oh! Look what I've found, a stick. Catch the stick boy! Ahh, not the groin!"

Takeo flinched at the mental image that was going through his head. And from the look of sickening glee Richtofen was showing he was likely thinking the same thing. Repressing the urge to shudder Takeo grabbed his SMG and quickly moved to the ledge to find his hammered companion. Takeo and Richtofen waited for Nikolai in tense silence. A few minutes of peering into the mist for any sign of their Russian teammate the German and Asian had finally spotted a bloodied figure swaying towards them. They immediately knew it was Nikolai. After all, who else in their group sways around like a drunk? To Takeo's relief –although he didn't show it- the mist began to let up giving him and Richtofen a better view of the ground.

Their eyes widened in surprise and disbelief once they saw how bloodied and torn Nikolai's uniform was. His right sleeve was torn off completely; there was a claw tear on his torso, his kerchief was dishevelled and had a few splotches of wet blood on it. His sack was surprisingly in perfect condition, apart from some blood here and there and Nikolai was currently holding the sack protectively in-between his arms with a snarl on his face.

Takeo pressed his palm to his forehead in despair when he heard Nikolai commenting with righteous fury in his voice, "That will surely teach the svoloch behind me no never go for the groin, or my sack of vodka!" The mist was still around and the drunk didn't bother look around in case the hellhounds decided to spawn again.

Then in a comical display, Nikolai turned on the heel of his boots and using the momentum' he smashed his sack of alcohol against a hellhound. The sounds of bones breaking was audible, even from where Takeo and Richtofen were standing. And then something completely unbelievable had happened. The hellhound after it had its face smashed against the sack was actually thrown off its feet and was sent into the sky with Nikolai bellowing at it in Russian with his fist shaking in anger as the dog was slowly becoming nothing but a tiny speck in the distance.

"D-Did you just see vhat I-" Richtofen stammered, as he pointed a shaking hand at the furious looking Nikolai.

Takeo nodded and for once he was actually wary of the Russian. If he could do that with that sack of his… imagine if he used his fists. Or worse, the boots! Thousands of images of Nikolai delivering a boot up the ass and being sent into the sky with an uppercut flashed in Takeo's mind. Yes. He would have to be careful around the Soviet for now on.

X.X.X.X

Spyro and Zoidius looked at the rising smoke in the distance as several different coloured dragons rushed from and out of Warfangs walls around them. As dragons they would be able to get to the site and find the humans before the fire reaches the abandoned village and fly back to Warfang with time to spare. Spyro and Zoidius had requested to go with them but Terrador and surprisingly enough Volteer had told them to remain in the city. Cynder was still missing and the scouts the Avalar tribe had sent out had given information that the apes were reorganizing for something. Spyro knew if the apes were reorganizing for something then it would be big and won't be good for them in the long run.

Then Dempsey's friends and other humans that dressed like him popped out of nowhere. And they found Dempsey again just before they were somehow sent back to Warfang without the humans with them. Yeah, something was happening and Spyro had a feeling the humans were going to be in the middle of it.

"Hey…Spyro…" Said purple dragon glanced at the black dragon, who stared blankly at the sky before pointing a talon. "What the heck is that coming towards us?" The black dragon asked. Frowning Spyro followed the talon and squinted his eyes.

Imagine his surprise when he saw a speck heading towards them, with four of its legs comically flailing around helplessly. As the speck grew bigger and Spyro was shocked when he saw that the speck was actually a dog. A giant dog but a dog nonetheless. And he was even more shocked that the dog was almost as big as a cheetah, its fur was burnt, patches of burnt skin could be seen through the gaps and large chunks of flesh were ripped off that you could see the bone.

It was also covered in fire and had glowing red eyes.

With a startled yell both Spyro and Zoidius immediately took to the skies' and not a moment later the flaming dog smashed against the brick floor, head first (which caused Spyro and Zoidius to whence when they heard several bones snap) before barrelling out of control as it connected the ground and skidding off the wall and onto the hard ground below.

Both Spyro and Zoidius shared a look a hidden agreement in their eyes before they flew to the ground floor. It was a long fifty foot drop. So it didn't come as a surprise to the two dragons when all they saw was a bloodstain surrounding the dog on the ground.

No one spoke for a moment, before Spyro broke it. "You know, somehow, I think the humans had something to do with this." He said in a lame attempt at a joke.

Zoidius despite the situation stifled a laugh.

X.X.X.X

The possible future

"So… you're workin' for her now?" Dempsey said grimly.

Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen stood side by side with Dempsey. Each of them was holding a very scientifically advanced weapon. Tank Dempsey held the Wunderwaffe DG-2, a rifle that fired electricity capable of killing one to ten zombies with a single shot in a chain-lightening. Doctor Edward Richtofen held the Thunder Gun that is able of generating a blast of wind with the force of a hurricane behind it that could blow anything off their feet. Takeo Masaki had the Winters Howl; a hand gun that is able of trapping multiple objects in blocks of ice. Nikolai Belinski had the Ray Gun, another side arm that is able to generate green rays that can dissolve concrete and melt the strongest of steels.

"The Holy One had said you four were a threat to our very existence. And after all that's happened, I have to agree with her." A soft yet seductive voice said from every direction. "If I kill you all here, then our future is secure."

"You do rearise if we die, then everyone erse here wirr die too?" Takeo shouted.

"After all that's happened, that is what you think?" The seductive tone quickly hardened as the speaker hissed at them. "I've seen the future. Death and destruction follows where ever you four fools go. I don't want that to happen to my people!"

"Death and destruction follows where ever Samantha goes you dumb bitch!" Dempsey bellowed in frustration. "How do you think our species died out? Samantha killed them and turned them into flesh eating zombies! She is doing the fucking same to your species, and got them killing everyone and every_thing _in their path!"

"Shut up!" The mysterious speaker shouted, her voice carrying in the wind like thunder. "You know NOTHI-"

"WE KNOW ENOUGH!" Dempsey roared his teeth were bared and his eyes were full of fury. "It's obvious that words won't reach you. It's a shame. Spyro would've wanted you to live, to fight for another day, but I clearly see the truth." Dempsey lifted his arm and pressed his fore and middle fingers to his ear.

"S.O.G and Task Force 141, this is Raider 935: Operation Purification; is a go. I repeat, Operation Purification is a go!"


	17. Chapter 17

Humanity's Finest: Part 2

Chapter 3

Cynder followed the prototypes of undead dragons carrying apes through the sky to a location that Samantha said would "be advantageous to them." As far as she knew of this location; it used to be a research facility of Group 935, a long extinct organisation of humans that were researching advanced technology. An organisation Samantha's father had headed thousands of years ago apparently. But this particular device is what got Samantha worried. According to the girl this thing she was sent to search for was capable of reverting zombies back to their living selves. If that was the case then it was very likely it could be reversed to make more zombies.

Samantha sent her to get this device and bring it to her before her nemesis's' discover its existence. She didn't even know what the thing looked like for her Ancestor's sake! The only description Samantha gave her was, "The object will most likely be camouflaged and it will have two drills like shapes on the front."

It wasn't even a good enough description! She was basically wondering in the dark. And she didn't like wondering in the dark, with half-assed info to back her up. When she was known as 'Cynder the Terror of the Skies' she had ruled with an iron fist! She had kept tabs on every going on's in her realm and crushed any resistance before they could happen. She regretted all the killings, regretting how she enjoyed listening to her victims plead to her to let them live before killing them in cold blood. Shaking her head away of such negative thoughts Cynder gave a curious glance to the decaying zombified dragons in front of her Cynder began to wonder what they were truly capable of. She had heard from Grim that Samantha had sent one of the prototypes she recently created against Tank Dempsey, as a test to see wither or not if it was combat ready. Suffice to say the test Samantha had set for the undead dragon was somewhat successful but the original reason -from what she had overheard from an overly chatty ape and a musing Samantha- was why the zombified dragon was sent out had failed; Dempsey remained healthy but they discovered something important.

Tank Dempsey had new abilities; he was able to pull advanced weapons out of thin air, walk through fire unscathed and was able to wrestle the undead dragon to the ground with his strength alone. That should've been impossible because from what Samantha said the zombified dragons were physically altered, giving them enhanced strength, speed and durability. And it was because of these new abilities Dempsey had recently received that he was able to keep up with the zombified dragon.

'_Still...it must've been quite a fight,'_ Cynder mused inwardly.

After several hours of flying, Cynder had seen something from the corner of her eye. When she turned she saw something gleaming in the distance. The black scaled, light blue eyed dragoness squint her eyes to get a better view at what she was seeing but it was proving to be difficult; as she was fairly far away from the object. When she was about to announce to the others of what she is seeing, imagine her surprise' and to her glee, that the zombified dragons had noticed it too and were moving to find out what it was.

Cynder rolled her eyes in amusement when the apes looked like they were about to yell at their mounts. Even Cynder could see how _stupid _that would be. Their _mounts _were fricking _dead _for crying out loud. Didn't they realise they wouldn't stand a ghost of chance against them if the undead dragons found them to be annoying enough to dispose of?

But then she remembered; apes were stupid creatures. Cynder was in fact so bored with nothing to do but fly, that she was eagerly looking forward to the upcoming slaughter. Sometimes she loved being sadistic when the situation calls for it.

Several minutes later Cynder and the zombified dragons landed on solid ground in a clearing, a fairly short distance away from the glimmer of light they saw in the sky. The apes slid off the backs of their undead mounts and began to spread out, their weapons unsheathed and at the ready. A few undead dragons sniffed the air to pick up the scent of any possible spies watching them. Unfortunately for them, they never picked anything up apart from the disgusting smell of under bathed apes surrounding them which caused them to growl darkly. Before they could do anything against the furry animals however, Cynder sent them a sharp look. As if she was begging them to act out of line. Now the dragons may be dead, but they were far from stupid. They could pick up some stubble hits, could speak a few sentences, and they understood orders. They were under Cynder's command and they had to follow and listen to her orders as if she was Samantha herself.

The apes remembered what Cynder was like during her reign of terror. And even though she is smaller than they remembered, they do know that the dragoness still retained some of the power that she had when she was under Malefor's control. They remember her abilities Poison, Fear, Shadow and Wind on them when they were skeletons underground, before Samantha found and put them back to their original state. So when Cynder with authority in her voice, ordered everyone to spread out in pairs; they bloody well did it. It wasn't long until an ape relayed to everyone in an awed yet gruff tone that it had found something nearby. The awed voice the ape had spoken in had gotten Cynder's curiosity piqued. When she along with the others reached the ape, her eyes glanced behind the furry animal and her eyes slowly widened. There was an old crumbled tower on top of a hill and there were some rusty remains of a ship that was deeply embedded in the earth and less than a quarter of it were poking out.

In front of them however were the ruined remains of an encampment?

From what Cynder recalled in her short reign as Malefor's general, there was a large group of Cheetah rebels that was stationed here. They were taken care of rather easily, in spite of the fact that they held their own against the Dark Forces. How she knew this? Because she was the one who led the raid on them with a small battalion of apes. She didn't bother to take a look at the architecture then because it didn't hold any value to her old master. If she did, she would've discovered that this place was made by someone else's hands. And from what she knew, the ruined tower on the hill or the ship didn't look like anything the Moles had constructed.

She would've rediscovered one of the many facilities owned by Group 935.

"I wonder…" Cynder trailed off as she surveyed the landscape. She trudged through the long abandoned camp with wary eyes glancing at the tower on the hill. "Is this one of the outposts that the humans made long ago?"

It made sense. The humans of old did have hundreds of old castles and fortresses in their countries, and some of them were built to last. So it wouldn't be farfetched for this place to be the remains of an outpost. The place they found Tank Dempsey was the remains of a factory. The fact that it was still operational, after countless centuries of being underground and still standing is nothing short of amazing. Most things built nowadays usually last for ten to fifteen years. If there wasn't a war with the Dark Master and his armies then may be the cities housing dragons, moles, cheetahs and other anthro-type animals dotted through the land would be standing.

Cynder turned around to face her subordinates. She cleared her throat and spoke to them with an authoritative tone. "Alright, I have a feeling that this place used to be an old human outpost. I want some of you…" She looked pointedly at the apes. "…too scout around the surrounding area in pairs, but remain close to the bulk of the group in case we run into any unexpected surprises. The rest can stay here to make camp." She paused to catch her breath before turning to the undead dragons; they were surprisingly quiet and standing upright with their chests puffed out. It was similar to what she saw Terrador do when he was proud of her and Spyro doing something.

"I want at least half of you to be our eyes in the sky. Look for something out of the ordinary and keep an eye for any enemies, preferably the humans. Next I want a quarter of you to stay here and guard the area; from my past experiences the apes will need extra guards since they can get their red asses handed to them easily." She ignored the growls of protests from her ape subordinates. "The other quarter can go with the apes on the ground, the same rules I gave them will also apply to you."

Her subordinates nodded and split up into pairs. Cynder shook her head and looked back at the tower. She began to wonder just what made Samantha send her out here for.

X.X.X.X

Mason and Woods had M-16 assault rifles respectively. The bandana wearing marine had a revolver as his secondary weapon in its holster strapped to his waist; and Mason had the standard military issue M1911A1 .Colt, the holster was carried on his chest instead of his waist.

Hudson and Weaver had the Dragunov, a semi-automatic sniper rifle. Hudson had two CZ75s and Weaver oddly enough had a Luger P08 pistol.

The four also restocked themselves on food, water, ammunition and equipment' because when they first got there they barely had anything to defend themselves with. Now they had Bowie knives, pineapple grenades, sticky grenades and magazines for their weapons. Mason and Woods both also have a machete sheathed on their waist.

"Now I like our odds." Mason said, as he slipped a fresh magazine into his M-16. He slung the assault rifle over his shoulder and took out his sidearm out of its holster and checked the mag before nodding in satisfaction and putting the pistol back into the gun holder.

"I wouldn't mind having the Commando or the Gali - but the M-16 suits me just fine." Woods said as he shouldered said assault rifle with one hand and held his revolver side ways.

Hudson shook his head in disbelief. Apes. That is what their facing. They were using their highly advanced weaponry against butt scratching, flea ridden apes. Sure the two –Mason and Woods- explained the whole situation to them, while making them look insane, but still… using fully automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols' against animals that wear armour that hardly protects them and use medieval weapons.

He had two words to describe this: Pure overkill.

The apes were going to get slaughtered before they knew what'd hit them. There was no doubt about that. But there was one or two advantages the apes have that they don't. And that is the numbers and the knowledge of the terrain. The humans are heavily outnumbered and the landscape is unknown to them. The apes however are used to the forest and they know the place better than they do, and since the monkeys have huge numbers they can make a thorough search for them if they wanted to.

It was obvious that both sides were going to collide soon; and when they do blood is gonna be spilt.

For now it was all they can do to try avoid the main bulk of the apes in the forest. The cabin was safe (the voice had confirmed that to them earlier.) and there was little to no chance that the apes are going to come across it. But both Mason and Woods weren't going to take any chances, because a little chance was still a chance. So when they outfitted themselves and stocked on ammunition, food and flasks filled to the brim with drinking water the two former U.S.M.C marines grabbed a few chairs and positioned themselves near the window and door and sat down with their assault rifles resting on their legs.

Hudson and Weaver slowly looked at one another in silence, shrugged and went back to outfitting themselves. They never did know how a crate filled with weapons and body armour got into the room in the first place, but then they stopped asking questions a long time ago and decided to roll with it. They would get fewer headaches that way.

'_I wonder where Reznov went.' _Mason thought. His brow furrowed when he heard a disturbance in the distance. He looked at Woods and from the grave expression on his face; he knew Woods had heard the commotion too.

"You hear that?" Woods said in a low quiet tone.

Mason nodded as he and Woods got off their chairs. "Yeah, I heard it alright. You think it's the monkeys?" He asked as he and Woods peeked out of the window.

"It's possible. But I don't wanna take any chances." The bandana wearing marine replied gravely as he took off the safety on his M-16. He turned to the snipers of the team and told them that he and Mason were going to go outside to check on something, and gave them instructions to take positions at the windows and cover them in case they were attacked.

The two reluctantly agreed. While Woods wasn't a larger rank in the military he was and still is the leader of his S.O.G group, which happened to consist of Frank Woods, Alex Mason and Joseph Bowman. Weaver and Hudson sometimes got folded into their unit –mostly to keep an eye on Mason- and they would then be under Frank's command.

"Consider it done." James Hudson said as he gave Weaver a look that said 'Deal with it' and effectively cut off any response the Russian had.

With a one eyed glare Weaver silently took position in front of the window, knelt in front of it and looked through the scope with Hudson doing the same. Meanwhile both Frank and Alex slowly walked out in the open with their M-16's held up and ready to fire. The two men were completely vulnerable like this; walking in the open with no cover spelled disaster to many men in war. But hell! Frank Woods and Alex Mason were professionals! If they were ambushed they had two snipers –who currently had their crosshairs fixed on them instead of the surroundings- backing them up in the cabin.

And while they picked off any enemies trying to ambush them then Frank and Mason can unleash hell upon the poor bastards with their fully automatic rifles!

It's a shame there are trees in front of them though. Because if there wasn't they would have seen several crossbows following their every move.

X.X.X.X

This was probably the most terror Dempsey had felt in years. He was actually _almost_scared! He felt the fear tear at his nerves after not seeing a Hellhound search its way through the fog for some time, despite the fact that it was letting up. No matter though. He was just feeling a little peevish that at any moment a Hellhound could walk right in front of him and he would only have a split second to pull the trigger before it could react. That's just for the reflexes involved. Weather the bullets could hit the dog or not was an entirely different story.

But hell, Tank Dempsey is a legendary soldier! He actually isn't afraid at all, and his reflexes were as sharp as ever, despite him missing one or several hounds. Whenever that happened, he simply wrestled it to the floor and finished to off with his knife.

"Thanks for saying that, narrator." Tank replied in a dull tone. "It almost made up for the previous paragraph where you made me sound weak."

_Anytime!_

Polonsky stared oddly at Dempsey momentarily when he spoke. Sometimes he wondered if his lookalike was ok in that place that was his mind. He was acting like he was talking to someone, and heaven forbid he was saying he and everyone else was in a story! The previous sentence was proof of that.

"Polonsky would 'ya please stop talkin' about me." Tank said. "I can't concentrate with all this fog and the fourth-wall breaking I did a minute ago."

Said marine stopped and openly stared Dempsey with his jaw hanging open. "I-I... Wha-What!" He stammered. "Dempsey, what the hell are you talking about? I wasn't talking or anything that would involve talking!"

Tank paused in his step and looked at the teenager with a strict expression. "Don't lie to me kid." He said seriously. He reached behind him and unexpectedly pulled out a script and that had the title _'Humanity's Finest' _printed on the front in bold letters. He opened the manuscript to a certain page and pointed at a dialogue with familiar words on it. "The paragraph above my response here clearly showed your thoughts about me."

Polonsky had nothing to say. He really, really didn't.

Too Polonsky's dismay, he saw that in the script too.

"And the moment this sentence in finished, a hellhound will jump out of nowhere and pounce you." Dempsey said cheerfully as he put the script back to… wherever the hell it came from.

Then true to Dempsey's words, a hellhound pounced on Polonsky and bit down on the back of his bandolier and began shaking him around like a ragdoll, making Polonsky gargle incoherently in agitation. Tank cocked his head to the side as he tried to make out what his lookalike was saying; not to mention that the entire scene was just plain hilarious to watch. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Grabbing the hilt of his knife Dempsey spun the five inch knife in his palm before holding it in a reverse grip.

He slowly stalked toward the occupied hellhound; who never noticed the marine slowly approaching until it was far too late. When he reached the dog Tank's eyes suddenly hardened. He positioned the combat knife above the dog's neck' before latching onto it with one hand and used his other to bring the knife down on the mutt before it had a chance to react. One stab to the brain later and the hellhound fell on its full weight on Polonsky, who had the air pushed out of his lungs with a grunt but was unable to move thanks to the useless weight on his front.

"Hey Tank, ya' think you can help me get this smelly mutt off of me?" Polonsky asked gesturing to the dead weight that was the hellhound with his head.

Said marine shrugged. "Sure. We need to get back to the others anyway." Tank replied. "The fog may be letting up but those hellhounds are the masters of hiding and skulking around." He grunted as he and Polonsky began to shift the corpse.

Polonsky stopped whatever he was doing and gave Dempsey a perplexed look. "But… isn't skulking and hiding the exact same thing?" He asked.

Tank stared blankly at his lookalike. "…Polonsky…shut the hell up."

Roebuck and Miller slowly made their way through the fog almost blindingly. The mist, while fading away, was still dense enough to impede their vision; which affected their sense of direction. But it made them more alert in case they were unfortunate enough to come across a hellhound or two. They had a close call where they stumbled upon a large group of hellhounds, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. After all, both Miller and Roebuck had fully automatic weapons and with them they were capable of decimating the hellhounds before they could get close to injure them.

Miller wanting to pass the time started up a conversation with his superior.

"So Roebuck I have a question for you."

"Really?"

"Yep. I want to know who you would rather kill the most. The Nazi or the Asian?"

"Miller, I don't think it's polite to talk about that, they could be nearby." Roebuck reprimanded.

"Hey, the Asians dragged us into the war when they attacked Pearl Harbour. The Kraut's attacked Poland and the British and French went to war with Germany in retaliation." Miller fiercely replied. "Not to mention, Germany killed thousands of civilians and did a bunch of other unspeakable things because of Hitler." Roebuck couldn't deny that, his friend did have a point after all. And truth be told, he wanted to shove his boot up their asses' for all the trouble they've put them through. And he could not forget that Miller and his recon team had spent an entire week with the Japanese on Makin Island, and endured the torture they put them through.

"I can't disagree with you there."

"Hey! Guy's look! There's a bunch of green looking guys walking towards us!" The familiar Russian accented voice they all knew exclaimed with relief. Both Roebuck and Miller stopped and looked around for the person who spoke. "Look up." A German accented voice said with irritation. They both did as they were asked and were not at all surprised to see Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen looking down at them from a roof.

They were surprised to see they were on a roof. Because they couldn't see anything that could get them up there in the first place.

Nikolai uncorked a bottle of his vodka and raised it to the Americans. "Now that they are here we can get to drinking!" He brought the tip to his mouth, but stopped, lowered it and put the cork in the tip with an annoyed look on his face. "…Once Dempsey and his lookalike gets here." He said, before muttering darkly about dogs and their obsession with biting groins and pelvises.

Everyone wisely ignored the drunk. Takeo sighed and retreated to the back of the roof. Miller and Roebuck quickly glanced at one another before looking back. Not a moment later Takeo reappeared in their view of sight and was standing at the edge of the roof with a rolled up portable ladder. He safely secured it on the edge of the building, and tugging on it a few times Takeo nodded to himself in satisfaction before unceremoniously kicking the rest of the ladder off the roof.

"Get up here, quickry" Takeo told them urgently. "The dogs might stirr be wondering around!"

Both Miller and Roebuck didn't need to be told twice. The moment Takeo said 'demons' they instantly started sprinting toward the ladder as if their lives depended on it. Roebuck was the first to get to the ladder and after he slung his browning automatic rifle over his shoulder he begun climbing it with Miller watching his flank. Takeo and Richtofen were doing their job of being lookout, while Nikolai lay down in the middle of the roof with his eyes closed in peaceful slumber.

When the marines finally got to the rooftop they quickly pulled the ladder up, and with a relieved sigh the two leaned back on their arms as their exhaustion finally caught up with them. They were finally able to get a break. But with Dempsey and Polonsky still missing their break might be short lived. However nothing – except for the undead – was going to stop them from having their well deserved break.

X.X.X.X

Dempsey and Polonsky stopped when a humanized sphere of electricity suddenly appeared in front of them. Dempsey having seen a sphere of electricity before in the past quickly took out his .Colt from his gun holder, and reloaded his currently equipped CZ75 with a fresh magazine. Dempsey duel wielded both pistols as he regarded the electrical sphere with an unflinching gaze. He knew all sphere's contained a hellhound, and that they were the size of a child, however this was the first time he had seen one that was adult sized. He daringly spared a glance at Polonsky and saw his lookalike was knelling, with his Browning light machine gun levelled at his shoulder.

That was a good thing. Because of how heavy that gun was, firing it while standing up would make the gun shake in your hands; and the bullets would fly everywhere. However now that Polonsky was knelling down' all the teen had to do is shoot is small short bursts. Or if the hellhounds were very close to tearing off a chunk of skin; then he'd have to go full out.

"Interesting, isn't it American?" Samantha said stoically while walking out from behind the sphere of electricity. She pressed her hand up against it and looked at the marines with child-like eyes. Only that they were glowing a faint yellow. "Did you know zhat every time a hellhound or zombie _dies_; their souls return to me?"

Dempsey didn't like what she was implying. "What about it?"

She grin a dark grin that somehow made her look demented. "Vell, take into account zhat you've murdered thousands upon thousands of my minions; their souls are harvested for… nourishment… for fluffy."

Polonsky's eyes went impossibly wide in realisation as they turned from her to the sphere. His throat went dry as sweet ran down the side of his head. "That thing beside you, Fluffy is inside it."

Samantha clapped her hands together with an unimpressed look on her face. "Curses. You discovered one of my master plans." She cried out in mocking disbelief before glaring hard at the blondes. "Yes Fluffy is inside zhis. And just a little warning you'll need everything you have in you're possession if you want to stand a chance against her."

"Samantha what the hell is your game." Dempsey demanded fiercely. "What the hell are you trying to achieve by doing all of this!"

"What I vant is none of your concern, swine." Samantha stated coldly with an insane looking look on her eyes. "But I shall indulge you nonetheless. My 'game' here, is to kill Uncle Edward and all those who help him."

"And you're willing to commit genocide to do it!" Polonsky shouted with disbelief clearly visible in his eyes.

"She's the whole mastermind behind this whole thing kid." Dempsey reminded Polonsky. He glared dangerously at the little girl in front of him. "You're the reason the zombified dragon came after me aren't you?" He said as he slowly lowered his hands to his side as he stalked towards her with unflinching eyes. "And I'm also guessing you're the reason why the allies of Warfang were going missing too."

"I'm willing to do anything to achieve my goals." She said not denying the accusation. She chuckled darkly as a bullet, courtesy of Dempsey, passed harmlessly through her head. "My plans for zhe future are almost complete. Not even zhe combined forces vith zhe newest arrivals to zhis vorld can help you. Zhe black lizard, Cynder, is indivertibly helping me in zhis task. And when her mission is complete I shall have the means to turn every living thing into my undead servant!" She finished this off with an inhumane laugh that could be heard for miles on end.

"This is bad." Polonsky said in distress.

Dempsey growled at the teenager's lack of optimism but knew he was right. It wasn't every day you realised that the fate of the world was now resting on your shoulders.

"Have fun with Fluffy!" Samantha said to them with glee in her voice before it took a much deeper tone. "FETCH ME THEIR SOULS!"


	18. Chapter 18

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 4

Spyro didn't know what to do.

Ten hours ago, Warfang was attacked by zombified dragons. But they were eventually repelled by the combined efforts of the remaining three Guardians, dragons that had taken refuge and Moles' that were guarding said city. It was only because the dragons unleashed their fury attacks on their undead brethren that they were forced back. The Guardians and a few other dragons were wounded in the defence but were alive. The Moles are repairing the damages the city suffered in the attack, and Zoidius along with a small escort was sent to Avalar to get aid from their allies the cheetahs.

The black dragon hadn't returned since then. And the Guardians themselves have forbid Spyro from venturing outside, out of fear that he would be attacked from their new enemies. And too dampen his mood even more, it was starting to rain!

The purple dragon silently brooded to himself. He was the dragon of prophesy for crying out loud! He could bend time to his will; he can breathe multiple elements and do a lot of cool things that other dragons thought impossible! He saved the Guardians from Cynder when she was under Malefor's control, saved said dragoness from said dragon and then both he and Cynder kicked the living hell out of Malefor' and saved the world from being ripped apart in the process! He could handle a few undead dragons no problem!

And let's not forget that Cynder was still missing. And he hasn't seen Sparx for what seemed like years! Doing nothing was beginning to drive him up the wall!

"Hey… Spyro… Buddy you in there?" A loud obnoxious voice yelled in his ear. This was followed with a few soft taps to his noggin causing Spyro to groan in annoyance.

"Sparx leave me alone would you…" The purple dragon groaned. When his brain finally caught up with him, without warning Spyro's eyes shot open and openly glared at the familiar glowing dragon fly that was floating around his head. "Sparx! By the Ancestor's, where the hell have you been!?"

Sparx blinked and slowly, very slowly threw a thumb over his shoulder. "I was visiting our mom and dad?"

Spyro felt his left eye twitch. "Sparx… do you know how long you've been gone for? You've been gone for nearly a year now…"

"Hey, hey, hold on there buddy!" Sparx was quick to raise his hands in surrender. "I told ya' that I was going away for a while to visit mom and dad."

The purple arched an eyebrow at the declaration. "And when was this?"

"…You don't remember?" Sparx asked. When all he received was a blank face from Spyro, Sparx sighed and rubbed the side of his head before floating over to his adoptive brother and boldly sat down on top of his head. "It was a week after the humans were declared missing that I told you, Cynder and the Guardians where I was going. They didn't pay much attention though…" He trailed off and completely missed the dark look on his adoptive brother's face. "…except for Cynder, she did say she was going to tell you but since you didn't know where I was I guess she forgot?"

"…Cynder's been missing for months' now Sparx." Even though he couldn't see him Spyro knew Sparx had a surprised look on his face. "And not only that several small villages allied to us are going missing. Several scouts we've sent out in search for them have gone missing too. And hours ago Warfang was attacked."

"Attacked…? Attacked by what?"

Spyro could sense the fear in his adoptive brother. He was shaking like a leaf and was holding on to his horn like a lifeline. Spyro couldn't blame him; if he was younger and still living with his dragonfly parents, he would be doing the exact same thing.

His face softened. "…Trust me. You don't wanna know."

Sparx sighed. "Oh well maybe its better if you don't tell me. Because if you said that the dead were rising up, then I would've panicked and starting screaming in horror or something like that! Ha-ha-ha!" The dragonfly said; unknowingly getting it right on the mark.

Unfortunately for Spyro, he didn't share the same optimism and chuckled rather awkwardly. Thankfully Sparx was dense enough not to pick it up. It was by sheer luck that their casualties were next to nonexistent. While he was confident that he could beat anything if he put his mind to it, the fact that the Guardians had to resort to using their fury attacks just to put down the undead once and for all' had shown him how tough they were.

He was beginning to understand how the human race was wiped out. If they were facing an enemy that looked to be completely unkillable, then it is of no surprise that they were wiped out. And from what he had overheard from Terrador, the zombies get stronger and more difficult to kill with every encounter.

"Well it's clear that I've missed on a lot of things. Could you tell me what's going on so I can catch up?" Sparx asked.

The dragon of prophesy nodded his head, thankful for the distraction. "A few months after the humans vanished, villages allied to us started to go missing…"

X.X.X.X

Mason, Woods, Weaver and Hudson were cautiously making their way through the forest toward the northwest to the behest of Mason. The four had abandoned the cabin once they were well rested and were moving in a tight formation, with both Mason and Woods taken position in the front, and Hudson and Weaver taking the rear to make sure they don't get flanked. Instead of holding their Dragunov sniper rifles the two had their pistols out instead.

That way the two could aim a lot easier than if they were to look through the scope of their rifles. They could kill two birds with one stone.

Thinking that he heard something Woods quickly raised his right arm. The others stopped and everyone went down on one knee. Lowering their breaths the group listened to their surroundings for anything nearby. Everyone kept quiet with the rain drenching their clothes and hair, at first there was nothing, then they heard a twig snap followed by several more that was dangerously close to them. Glancing at Mason, Hudson and Weaver; Frank quickly gave them orders by using a combination of hand signs and sign language.

_'Unknown's approaching. Take cover behind the shrubbery.'_

The three complied and quickly took positions behind any nearby bushes with their weapons at the ready, and waited for whoever was coming to pass. It was the right decision. Not a minute later a large group of apes that were as tall as an elephant walked passed them. Their size took everyone by surprise.

To the human's credit, everyone had squashed the feeling to get the hell out of dodge; and held their ground and kept their breathing levels low. While they had advanced weaponry in their possession, these apes were covered in heavy armour from head to toe. The only reason they knew they were apes was because they could see their faces. They had weapons ranging from swords to spears, to crossbows to bows and they had large round black coloured shields that protected most of their back.

Fighting an enemy as heavily armoured as them was an estimate to suicide. And even if they could take them down, it would take a well placed grenade, or bullet to the face to do that. And without armour piercing rounds none of them were willing to take the apes on.

When the apes passed everyone waited for a few seconds to make sure they were out of range, then they came out of hiding.

"That was close. I never thought I'd say this; but those monkeys were fucking gigantic!" Weaver exclaimed.

"I know. I'm just as surprised as you are Weaver." Mason said with a surprised voice. He still couldn't believe he just saw apes the size of an elephant! "That was the first time I saw baboons of that size."

"Just makes you wonder what the hell we got into." Woods added with narrowed eyes. When everyone stared questionably at him, Frank elaborated. "If there are mammals that big, then what else is waiting for us? How dangerous are the other wildlife? Tiny lizards like geckos could be large predators if they evolved!"

Mason wisely kept his mouth shut about meeting Flaria, the dragoness that he met nearly ten hours ago.

Seeing that the sun was going down and it would get dark soon, Mason took the initiative. "We can muse on what we discovered later; but first we need to get the hell out of here." He gestured to the reddening sky above them. "The sun is going down and being in a forest at night won't be a good thing."

Woods nodded at that, knowing if they travelled in the dark with little visibility; it would make getting around a lot harder than needed. And they would be easy prey if there happened to be any predators wondering around at night.

Woods said that Mason was right and that staying here would be a bad idea. He then turned his gaze to Weaver and Hudson and asked them if they had a compass on them so they knew which direction they were heading. Weaver, Hudson and Mason all checked their pockets and sacks for a compass; and after a few minutes of searching Weaver pulled out his compass with a triumphant smirk and handed it to Frank.

Holding the compass evenly in his left hand Woods saw that the arrow was pointing to the northwest. "Ok, right now we're headin' in the right direction. If we keep heading that way towards the foliage then we keep ourselves dry from the rain. But we need to stay close so we don't lose sight of each other."

No one argued.

At the same time with Tank and Polonsky.

They say when you see the scariest thing in your life that you would no longer be afraid of anything anymore. At least, that's what Polonsky was told. He realised that that was nothing but bullshit. Right behind him was one of the most horribly disfigured German Sheppard's he had ever seen. And his LMG was useless against it. The two marines ran for their lives with their tails between their legs' as Fluffy followed them relentlessly. Dempsey duel wielded his pistols and was firing over his shoulder at their pursuer. The bullets either missed their mark completely or they struck true, but did little to nothing in slowing down the undead dog.

"What the fuck will it take to fucking kill that thing!?" Tank bellowed his face red with frustration. "I'm nearly out of ammo, and I sure as hell don't wanna get close and personal with that fucker!"

Samantha spoke out from everywhere and nowhere with amusement and a little bit of smug in her voice. "Fluffy cannot be killed by normal means, American. You can wound her, hurt her, but you can never kill her."

"When we get out of this alive, I'm going to give you a spanking reserved just for you!"

"You can't do that!" Samantha cried out in a dramatic fashion.

Polonsky almost lost his footing but quickly regained it and sped up his running. "You're trying to kill us!" He shouted at the voice. "You deserve a lot more than a god dam spanking!"

While Polonsky was busy shouting at the voice Tank rather calmly, gazed over his shoulder and saw that Fluffy was still chasing after them. With a tired sigh Dempsey quickly reloaded his pistols before aiming behind him and fired the entire clip in his CZ75, point blank at the hellhound. Fortunately, the wounds –no matter insignificant they were- it sustained forced the female hound to bring it attention away from Polonsky. Unfortunately the shots made her severally pissed off and glared its glowing red eyes at Tank with annoyance. Tank let out a rather girlish squeal and sprinted as fast as his legs could take under pressure when Fluffy nearly bit his leg.

"My legs are gonna feel like jelly once I rest…" Tank inwardly thought with despair. He yelped with fright and arched his back while pushing his legs even more when he realised Fluffy was getting closer. "Where the hells a Wonder Weapon when I need one!?" The marine practically screamed before he ducked underneath the dogs attempt at knocking him down by leaping on him.

Both Polonsky and Dempsey frantically staggered to a stop when Fluffy landed in front of them. The hellhound turned around and stared at them with annoyed eyes as Polonsky and Dempsey slowly gazed at one another. The two lookalikes had a silent conversation for a few seconds before the two silently nodded… and sprinted towards a building that knowingly to them happened to house Nikolai and the others.

Takeo lay on his stomach on the roof of the building that everyone was on while looking through the lens of his binoculars in search of Polonsky and Dempsey. As much as the Asian loathed to admit it but without Tank their group wouldn't be the same. It wasn't because he was worried about The Tank and the kid; it was never about being worried. Dempsey is a comrade. A brother in arms; and his honour demanded that he keep a look out for the two Americans. Patting the ground on his right Takeo was slightly at ease to find that his AK74u was still there.

Nikolai for once in his life was actually resting. With more than three people around they could practically hold off anything thrown at them, as long as they had ammunition for their guns. With his AK47 resting securely in his lap the sleeping Soviet was mumbling incoherent words under his breath. But you could hear a few words that made up a sentence…mainly about how bitchy most of his wives were when they were alive. The fact that it was pelting with rain and was drenched from head to toe in water didn't seem to bother him.

Richtofen being the paranoid bastard that he is, walked back and forth with his fully loaded MP40 in his hands while twitching nervously every few seconds. With the rain coming down the village was pretty much safe from the forest fire –which seemed to have vanished the exact moment the dragons vanished- and had somewhat cleared up the fog a bit. He stopped in mid-step and gazed at Miller and Roebuck who were sitting cross legged in the middle of the roof with a cloud of despair hanging above their heads. The Nazi thought the cloud looked funny above them with the rain continuously pelting against their skin.

Richtofen was interrupted from his musing by Takeo who gasped in shock, which was kinda surprising for the Nazi because he never saw Takeo display any form in distress. Putting his binoculars away with haste Takeo grabbed his AK74u and pushed himself off the ground until he was knelling on one knee.

"Richtofen we have the remaining Americans approching! We have company!" That was enough to bring the marines out of their funk and they quickly grabbed their Thompson and BAR as they got to their feet and quickly joined Richtofen who was over looking the whole area with a serious look on his face.

The four saw Tank and Polonsky running like men possessed, with the biggest, meanest and ugliest looking monster they had ever seen following right behind them. Takeo tried to get a clear shot at the beast, but both Polonsky and Dempsey were so close together that Takeo didn't risk opening fire in case one of his stray bullets managed to hit the marines instead of their original mark.

Gritting his teeth at them not doing anything, Miller quickly looked around and found the portable ladder lying on the ground harmlessly near Takeo. He quickly went to the Asians side, grabbed the portable ladder and walked back to Roebuck. After he made sure it was properly secured to the roof, he threw it off the roof and heard it unwrap itself as it made its way down.

Both Dempsey and Polonsky were looking halfway over their shoulder as Fluffy was slowly but surely gaining on them. Tank looked in front of him; and his eyes lit up when he saw a ladder being tossed down for them. He looked up and saw Takeo and the others –with the exception of Nikolai- on top of the roof staring down at them with their weapons aimed in their direction. Making a choice that would undoubtedly make his life worse, Dempsey twisted his face into a snarl when he suddenly took a sharp turn to the right with a low grunt escaping from his throat. He fired a few bullets to keep Fluffy's attention on him and away from Polonsky.

That ladder can only support one person climbing it at a time; and with the heaviest weapon out of them all Polonsky is undoubtedly the slowest out of the two. So he had to go first.

All Dempsey had was two pistols that was slowly running low of ammo, a flimsy combat knife, and a few grenades –_which reminds him, he needed to check how many grenades he has on him_- so that made him the lightest and the fastest of the two.

X.X.X.X

She was so bored. Chase and kill; those were the orders she was given. But for gods sake she was getting bored out of her mind, by doing nothing but chasing a few bunnies that were faster than her. And that ANNOYED her! She loved Samantha when she was alive, she really did. But ever since she became the way she was she hungered for the taste of blood.

Her sons and daughters were slaughtered by those four men. The German she loathed more than anyone, and she would gladly kill him. But no, Samantha wanted everyone who helped in the plot against her father dead. And she did, all accept one.

However throughout all this Fluffy couldn't help but think: _"I wish I could just stop running and lick my crotch…_" Her thoughts were interrupted by a bullet to the head. _"RAGH! You motherfucker! That's it, you are sooo fucking dead! The gloves are coming off!"_

X.X.X.X

When he saw the portable ladder in front of him he couldn't stop a relived laugh from escaping his mouth. However that relief was quickly replaced by fear when he looked over his shoulder. He never noticed Dempsey breaking off in a different direction; so when he heard a the familiar sound of a .Colt discharging and the dog turning its head to face the one who opened fire – his fear was quickly replaced by relief once more.

Dempsey had taken Fluffy's attention away him and made her focus on himself.

Polonsky once he was standing right in front of the ladder, looked over his shoulder to see if Dempsey was keeping the hellhound occupied. He saw that he was, by running around in circles while taunting the dog. Shaking his head, Polonsky quickly looked around for something to tie the Browning M1919 to his back. Carrying a gun that is heavy like the Browning M1919 with one hand, while climbing a ladder with the other is not a smart thing to do. And leaving the weapon on the ground with the hellhound wasn't an option either. When he couldn't see anything to tie the weapon; Polonsky cursed with dismay and then adapted to the situation.

Grabbing the handle of the gun with one hand Polonsky inhaled sharply when his arm felt like it got dislocated in several areas, when the limb dropped quickly because of the weight of the gun. Inhaling and exhaling slowly Polonsky grabbed the rope of the ladder and slowly climbed up with the weight of his Light machine gun weighting him down.

It was going to make climbing the ladder slightly more difficult, but he will adapt to it.

Running from a blood thirsty demonic dog like your ass was on the line was a sure way of getting your blood pumping. Hell it was what was giving him his kicks. There was just something funny he found about an overgrown dog chasing someone; even if that someone happened to be him.

But then again, maybe he shouldn't be excited with having an undead animal wanting to take a chunk off his body.

He stopped, ducked underneath Fluffy when she tried leaping on him, and swiftly turned on the palm of his heel before running in the direction he came from. When Fluffy missed her target, she instead collided with a wall made out of bamboo and straw and went right through the wall itself. She knocked over more objects inside, including a support beam that brought the entire building down on her.

When Tank heard the building collapsing he paused in mid-run and looked over his shoulder. He saw an opportunity to actually deal some damage. Pulling one of his pistols in its gun holder, he took one of his remaining grenades, removed the pin with his teeth and drew back his arm. And after cooking the grenade he threw the grenade to the collapsed building with a grunt.

Not a second later after the grenade landed it exploded, forcing Dempsey to raise his arm to shield his eyes from all the shrapnel and stray pieces of wood and straw, followed by the pained howls of Fluffy. Breathing out in his nose in a surprisingly relaxed manner, Dempsey casually lowered his arm to his side before glancing over his shoulder to see how far up the ladder Polonsky was.

He snorted with amusement when he saw a disgruntled Takeo and a slightly annoyed Richtofen pulling the teenager onto the roof by the scruff of his jacket. Dempsey muttered incoherently with a smile while shaking his head.

"Demphsey, get over here before zhat thing returns!" Richtofen yelled, his voice echoing through the sky.

Tank casually gave the Nazi the finger before jogging toward the building while securely placing his remaining pistol in the back of his trousers. He quickly stopped when he heard a very antagonised growl coming from behind. Slowly, very slowly Dempsey turned his head to look behind him and his eyes widened a fraction when he saw a very pissed off hellhound raising out of the remains of the building, her fiery red eyes were glaring at him and her body was covered from head to toe in black and dark blue flames.

"Oh… you have greatly annoyed Fluffy…" Samantha sounded out from every direction. "I vonder how fast you can run as my favourite pet in zhe whole vorld chases after you?" She wondered her voice sounding genuinely curious.

Tank took a step back as he awkwardly gazed from side to side. "Uh…" He took a few more steps back as Fluffy made her way out of the fallen bamboo, with fiery red eyes glaring at him like a blazing inferno. He didn't know why he did it; but he did and it had the desired result. "HEY LOOK SHEEP!" He yelled at the top of his voice as he looked and pointed to the left.

And rather predictably Fluffy's eyes lit up, quite literally, and snapped her head in the direction Dempsey was pointing. It wasn't until Fluffy had her head turned that Dempsey threw caution and ran to the ladder in a full on sprint.

X.X.X.X

"Have you found anything?" Cynder questioned stoically.

Her subordinates shook their heads 'no' before one of them added, "No. There's barely anything here." The ape turned and gestured to the remains of the boat that was deeply embedded within the ground. "However that structure is where we're going to search next. If the weapon the Holy One wants is here, then it'll be likely in there."

Cynder nodded and gave them a dismissive wave of her paw, sending the apes away. When the apes were out of ear shot the dragoness sighed tiredly. Ever since she had eaten that blasted key Samantha said would set her free, Cynder couldn't control most of her actions lately. In fact, she swore that Samantha was whispering to her from the back of her mind, whispering orders for her to act on.

And because of that dammed key she ate she couldn't disobey.

Sighing Cynder gazed around before a yawn escaped her mouth. Smacking her lips Cynder lay down and with another yawn she closed her eyes. She was surrounded by zombified dragons, with two standing guard nearby that would protect her with their undead lives as if she were Samantha herself, so closing her eyes for some well needed rest wouldn't be a problem.

When the black dragoness closed her eyes, she suddenly found herself staring at her sleeping form.

Blinking Cynder said in the calmest tone she could muster. "Ok, where the heck am I?"

"You are in a place where not even that _human _child can find us, young Cynder." A soothing grandfatherly voice that spoke much wisdom said from behind the dragoness. "If that creature that controls the risen dead can be classed as a human of course…"

Cynder felt her eyes widen in both shock and surprise. That voice... the dragoness shook her head in denial. He was _dead_, sacrificing himself so they could get to Malefor. She saw him die! Slowly, very slowly Cynder turned around and if possible her eyes had widened even more.

Greyish-light blue scales, a dark blue cloak, a glowing light blue gem hanging from his neck and an open sack carrying several scrawls hanging near his hind. All in all he looked like an ancient dragon, similar to the transparent image of the chronicler she once saw after she awoken from the crystal.

Only this wasn't the chronicler she saw. Rather it was someone she knew.

Cynder stared wide eyed at the dragon who was smiling kindly down at her with watery eyes. With trembling lips, Cynder let the tears flow and ran toward the elderly dragon and hugged him, sobbing while letting out all the frustration and emotion she had held back after his death, and during and after she was captured.

"…I-Ignitus!" She cried out while began to laugh out of joy as she rubbed her head affectionately against his right foreleg.

Ignitus, the new chronicler, grinned slightly happy at seeing her again and placed a comforting paw on her back.

Cynder gazed up at the former Guardian with teary eyes. "Ignitus how are you here? I saw you die!"

"…" The former Guardian didn't reply. With a grim face he set his paw that was on Cynder's back on the ground, turned and walked away while beckoning the dragoness to follow him. Cynder not knowing what to do and not wanting to anger one of the five people who were ever kind to her, quickly walked to his side.

The two dragons walked in silence until Ignitus sighed. "Cynder this object that the human child has sent you to find must **never **be given to her." Cynder gazed up with a questioning look. There was few times where she had heard Ignitus speak so seriously. The former red dragon glanced at Cynder. "If Samantha were to get her hands on this object she sent you to find, then all life will be in danger."

"It is really that dangerous?"

"Cynder, the contraption Samantha has you looking for is capable of turning living, healthy beings such as you into the undead." Ignitus informed grimly as they came to a stop in front of a lake. "It is a terrible weapon, a weapon created by human hands the same humans who created the dead long ago who are now travelling by your side."

Cynder looked shocked. "You know about-"

"Yes." His tone was firm and his eyes were narrowed in thought. " I've been watching both you and Spyro ever since I became the Chronicler." He revealed as he gazed up with a heavy sigh before he sat down. "I was also following Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen's progress ever since they returned here."

"So you know about them too?"

"I've known of them ever since you and Spyro first found the human, all the way to his so called 'betrayal' when his comrades arrived."

Cynder growled darkly. "They attacked him, and then he turned on us shortly after!" She snarled. "Why should I forgive him and the others when they attacked us?"

Ignitus stared at the teenager in silence with unblinking eyes. He was expecting this from her, and she had to realise the lengths a person would do just to get back to their friends and family. He wasn't taking Dempsey's side either, but he understood where he was coming from.

"Cynder…" Ignitus began with another sigh causing said dragoness to look up at him. "…put yourself in the humans place: You're alone and the last of your kind. Wouldn't you give anything to get back to the people you know?"

Cynder opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again when she couldn't think of anything to say. She scrunched up her face in thought and could think of several things she would give to be with the rest of her species. But betraying the ones who befriended you? She wouldn't have done that. She would have found another way.

"…If I were the last of my kind, I guess I would have given anything, to be with my own species again." Cynder admitted solemnly. "But I wouldn't have betrayed the ones who befriended you and offered you a place to stay! I would have tried to explain, or something!" She added fiercely.

"The mind of an individual is a complicated thing to understand. No one knows what you are thinking; and no one knows what you are planning. Sometimes…" At this Ignitus paused and looked down at Cynder one again, with a kind smile. "…you need to be patent to understand why people do what they do."

Cynder stared at Ignitus with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. He was right in a sense; no one can truly understand one another unless your patent to understand them like Spyro was with her.

Still smiling at the young dragoness Ignitus stood up, with his eyes never leaving hers. "Now, young Cynder, wake up."

Cynder closed her eyes…

And found herself in the middle of her camp when she opened them again. Blinking to get the dust out of her eyes, Cynder yawned tiredly as she stood up to stretch her limbs. Shaking her head to make herself more awake the dragoness gazed around the area and found several apes sitting around a camp fire with watching some meat get roasted around a spit above the fire.

Cynder allowed a small smile on her face. After seeing Ignitus, looking alive and well again, it was like an unknown weight was lifted from her shoulders.

Cynder approached the apes that were sitting around the campfire silently, until one of them turned his head and saw her approaching. Everyone in the group noticed him stiffen his body before turning their heads in the direction he was staring.

They all quickly jumped to their feet in a salute even as the dragoness spoke to them with authority. "What is our progress on the search?"

The mammal, who alerted everyone to her presence, was the one to reply. "It is a slow going progress maim. The… reanimated earth dragons are doing the bulk of the work, while our comrades are inside the structure itself searching for the contraption The Holy One has sent us to find. It'll take some time before we begin any real progress."

Cynder nodded as she took the information given to her and placed it at the back of her head for later. She was going to stay in the area for weeks, possibly months? That's doable. It won't be easy but she'll manage. She did stay in places that were in worser conditions than the place she's at now when she worked for Malefor.

"What about the humans? What are the chances they'll come across this place?"

X.X.X.X

"Pull me up! Pull me the FUCK uuu-ha-ha-ppp!" Dempsey yelled frantically, as he scaled the ladder as quickly as he could with Fluffy sitting patently underneath him with bared teeth and fangs. His frantic shout had woken up Nikolai from his slumber, and was currently laughing at the marine's misfortune.

"Fuck you Nikolai!" The marine cursed at the top of his voice. "Put yourself in my shoes and laugh at ME then!"

X.X.X.X

Mason gasped and slapped his right arm reflectively when he felt a sharp prick on his skin. He made a face when he saw a crushed mosquito on his digits, before wiping it on his trousers. "Fucking mosquito, I hate it when they do that."

"Well it could be worse you know?" Woods said conversely. "That could've been a bear or something."

Everyone blankly stared at Woods, causing said man to say. "What?"

"…you shouldn't say something like that Frank." Mason said sounding completely serious. "You'll jinx us."

X.X.X.X

"Not likely," Cynder said wryly. "If they do come across this place, hopefully we'll be long gone by then. If not, well, we'll cross the bridge once we get there."

The ape frowned slightly at that titbit of information. He had heard from Grim' that a particular set of humans are mortal enemies with the Holy One. And while it is a good thing that none of them is near them it is also a bad thing because they don't know _where _the humans are. And if you include the fact Grim had captured three humans, before he and his subordinates were driven off from a joint attack of dragons _and _humans…

"I see…" The ape slowly said his eyes gazing around cautiously. "Then it is a good thing that there are some of us patrolling the perimeter of our camp then."

"Indeed it is." Cynder turned and walked away. And as she walked she could hear Ignitus whispering cryptic words to her in the back of her head. The words while cryptic had shaken her to the core.

"_When the final humans arrive in seven moon cycles, the fallen one finally strikes? The violent one faces a dire choice. The fallen and violent ones will meet face to face and the earth will shake. Powerful weapons in the correct hands will repel the dead. And a race long thought dead will rise from the ashes of their failures with hope."_

Things were only going to get worse before it gets better. A calm before the storm.

* * *

_Well here is my latest and unfortunately my possibly last chapter of Humanity's Finest. I just don't feel wanting to write this story any more. I had a blast making this, and it was fun while it lasted but... I think it's time I finally put it on the shelf._

I know how it ends, but I just don't know how to get there...

Spyash2, signing out.


	19. Important Notice!

**This is a message from Spyash2, bringing you news...SOPA is back, that is right people, the bill that is threatening to take away our freedoms on the internet and beyond a year ago is BACK. And not only is it back, but it is trying to be passed quietly so nobody notices. SOPA will guarantee that anybody who streams a video, whether it be on YouTube a walkthrough for a video game, or a kid singing a song that is 'copyrighted' they will be treated as a felon. You heard me right, a FELON, do you understand me? YOU will be treated like the highest form of criminal for uploading a video game walkthrough on YouTube, for singing a song on karaoke, hell, you could be arrested and treated as a felon for posting a screenshot.**

**Now, why am I telling you this? Because this is only just the beginning. Think about it: how long until Fanfiction is being attacked? How long until a fanfiction writer is being carted off to a maximum state prison for writing a character from a video game, or anime into their fanfic? How long until THAT crap is happening? I assure you that if this passes, it will not be long, oh no, it will not be long at all, because once this passes, then ANYTHING goes, Fanfiction will be attacked for using canon characters in a fanon manner, authors will be arrested for writing a book whose main character has glasses, just like in another series, artists will be arrested and confined for using sapphire blue in the iris of one of their characters like another author. We CANNOT let this happen!**

**Don't believe me? Then take a look at the links below for proof. Remove the spaces. See for yourself, and please, PLEASE spread the word and fight this assault on our freedoms. Because this isn't just going to affect the British. Oh no, it will affect EVERYBODY across the globe!**

**: / www . huffingtonpost 2013/08/07/unauthorized-streaming-felony_n_3720479 . html**

**: / www . washingtonpost blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/05/sopa-died-in-2012-b ut-obama-administration-wants-to-revive-part-of-it /**

**: / www . techdirt articles/20130805/12472124074/administration-cant- let-go-wants-to-bring-back-felony-streaming-provis ions-sopa . shtml**

**and the video which caused us to find out about this horrible thing...remove the spaces, and spread the word...**

**: / www . youtube watch?v=1fTt4K4Cae4**

**Take care and spread the word, or we will lose out freedoms to express ourselves on the Internet! Repost it on your stories, forums, blogs, anywhere! JUST MAKE IT KNOWN! WE HAVE TO STOP THIS!**


	20. Chapter 20

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 5

"I'm really beginning to hate that thing down there." Polonsky said in a bitter tone glaring down at Fluffy from where he stood. Her glowing crimson eyes were giving him the creeps. The way the thing just sat there, staring at him, unmoving. Roebuck and Miller were beside the Private staring at the Hellhound with a guarded expression.

"How much ammo do you guys have by the way?"

Both Miller and Roebuck ruffled through their ammo pouches. Each took out two magazines which had 20 bullets in each. Along with the magazine in their sub-machine guns they both had a total of 80 bullets. Polonsky on the other hand still had two 'bullet belts' for his M1919 Browning plus the one already in use. So that was almost an extra 500 bullets. For their secondary weapon both Miller and Roebuck had two extra magazines for them, giving them an extra 16 bullets before they run out if ammo for their side arm.

Polonsky was out of ammo for his having used it all in an attempt to hurt Fluffy.

"Not much I'm sorry to say." Miller said after showing his ammo.

Roebuck cursed. "Dammit. We'll be at their mercy if we're not careful with these from here on out."

While that was going on Nikolai was rummaging through his sack before he yanked out the cloth covered meat having only remembered it there now. After calling Tank the drunk soldier tossed the cloth covered meat over to the marine, who easily caught it and stared at him with narrowed eyes after looking at it.

"Got it while ago. Was meant to give it to you when we found you." Nikolai said when he saw the questioning look the blonde haired marine was giving him.

Looking at the wrapped up meat Tank slowly and carefully unwrapped it before bringing it to his nose to sniff it. It was a precaution. Nikolai had a lot of vodka bottles inside that sack of his and god knows what else.

Seeing there was nothing with the smell Tank picked a fairly large chunk of meat and bit in to a small piece and tore it off. Rolling his tongue around the cooked meat in his mouth he savoured the taste, making a sound of approval before looking at the other marines. They probably had nothing to eat either, and could be hungry.

Swallowing the meat in his mouth he took another bite out of the one he had in his hand as he made his way over to the trio of Marine Raiders. He tapped Roebuck on the shoulder making him grunt questionably as he looked over his shoulder.

Tank offered him the cooked meat. Blinking in surprise he gave Tank a thankful nod for the offered food and tapped Polonsky and Miller on the shoulder before taking a piece. After turning and seeing what was being offered both marines silently took a piece and gave Tank a nod before taking a bite out of it.

Their hands may have been dirtied from their previous battle with the apes and hellhounds; but they could look past it since there was food on the line. They had to get something in the stomach's after all.

The group of marines eat in silence. Then after what seemed to be an unknown amount of time the youngest of them broke the silence to ask a question, "Do we have a plan to get out of this mess?" Polonsky suddenly asked. Giving his comrades' a solemn look.

"Normally Nikolai, Takeo, Richtofen and I usually just go against the zombies guns blazing." Tank stated with a light frown beginning to form. He sighed and added, "But that is before we would hear some mysterious voice pleading us to help them escape from somewhere that ends up with us getting sent to a new location, or a piece to a puzzle where upon completing it we get sent to a new location."

Miller, Roebuck and Polonsky stared at Dempsey dumbfounded at what he told them.

"...How many times did this happen to you?" Miller asked.

Tank scratched his chin in thought before shrugging helplessly; not being able to remember.

"Dunno. The first time this happened was in a Russian Facility. We basically had to get this guy out of a dimension he got himself trapped into or something like that. Afterwards we got teleported to somewhere else that was freezing cold. The second time it happened, was when we arrived in a jungle that had a massive temple. We had to use this mechanism that could bring my team and I to the past for a brief period of time where we had to change the fate of two explorers from getting killed. Turns out the whole entire thing was a waste of our time as they were caught in a loop. Then we ended up here."

There was astonished silence. Eventually it was broken by Polonsky, "...So all you did was basically help these mysterious voices, and after you're done, your group are just sent to a new location?"

Now that Tank thought of it, it does sound pretty outrageous when its been put like that. But anything is possible right now. Samantha Maxis is haunting them still and her giant dog of doom is waiting for them.

"Pretty much." He confirmed with a lazy shrug.

Tank gazed out, frowning at the lingering fog that was beginning to thicken in some places. Where there is fog there are dogs prowling.

What was worse there wasn't enough ammo between them to attempt to take the fight to the hellhounds. If only they could find a weapon outline, or a max ammo, then they would be back in business. He contemplated on trying to wrestle Fluffy but quickly dismissed the idea. He didn't want to risk getting bitten by the dam mutt. Plus he wasn't sure if he could wrestle the hellhound like he did that dragon.

That was pretty much an on-the-spot situation. He didn't know if he could so something like that again.

Scratching the side of his face Tank surveyed the now abandoned village. A lot of buildings are made out of wood and wheat and fairly close to each other. If he was right and they took a running start and jumped off the ledge to get to the other building they might be able to stay off the ground and make their way through the village without running into any hellhounds.

The problem with that idea was, can the roofs support beams and the roof themselves support the strain they would put on it? If not then they were pretty much fucked since the dragons aren't with them anymore.

On the bright side of things the buildings aren't that high up everything considering. They were just a few feet taller than the Dragon Guardians. Who just so happened to be about 40ft tall. They can survive a 40ft fall, if they timed their knee bend once they land on the earth correctly.

X.X.X.X

Hunter was one of the best archer's in Avalar. He had seen things that other cheetah's would never believe. Been to places that had never been used since the dark queen's reign. He had helped Spyro and Cynder get to Warfang when they woke up from their crystal 'prison' three years after defeating Gaul, and he along with the tribes in Avalar helped the soldier's of Warfang fight off the armies of the Dark Master when they attacked the dragon city.

So when he heard several villages all across the Realm allied to Warfang were going missing, along with scouts that belonged to the city and their allies vanishing without a trace, he and seven other's went out to investigate and if possible put a stop to it. Every village, big and small, that was hit was deserted.

Disturbingly a lot of these abandoned villages had the streets and walls covered in blood that had long since dried. There was even the stench of death and decay. Commonly if there was a lot of blood then there should be a body nearby. Instead the cheetah's found nothing.

This had been going on for months now. This was their fifth month out and they were still not getting close as to finding out who was doing this. It was dammed frustrating.

Then they came across a small wooden building that looked like a cabin. When they tried to get close one member of the group accidentally tripped and howled in pain when she cut her paw on one of the tree branches.

Hunter cursed and quickly covered the felines maw. But the damage was done. Not knowing if there was someone inside that building Hunter quickly guided the group into the bushes and hid. Looking over his shoulder he took in stock of their equipment.

Out of the seven only four had crossbows and a pouch filled with bronze bolts. The rest had bows and a quiver filled with arrows. They all did have iron swords for close range so they weren't going to use their paws in close combat.

Seeing the door of the cabin open everyone tensed and lowered their breaths. The cheetah's who had crossbows, armed their weapon with their bolt and took aim. Being trained to be the best shooter's among their tribe, these cheetah's can head shot a person from 100 yards away.

What they saw leave the building made their eyes wide.

They heard the stories about these creatures that were related to apes. Spyro and Cynder encountered one months ago and befriended him. Then three more appeared out of nowhere and the one they befriended turn on them for some reason. The last time Spyro and Cynder saw them was when they were being crushed by a building.

Now two of these creatures, humans they were called, had walked cautiously out of the cabin with weapons they have never seen before. They moved as one, each covering their blind spots while scanning their surrounding at the same time. The crossbow wielding cheetah's aimed their crossbows at the humans in case they turned out to be hostile.

The anthropomorphic animals held their breath as the humans walked past their hiding place. Luckily the cheetah's are able to blend in well with their tropical surroundings making them ideal guerilla fighters. So the two human soldier's were not able to see them.

The soldier's stopped in the middle of the path and scanned their surroundings again. They did this for about five minutes or more before the one with the strange and odd pattern painted on his arm and a bandana wrapped around his head tapped his comrade on the shoulder.

The cheetah's watched as the two humans started talking inaudibly before they began to jog back to the cabin. When they were finally back inside the building and out of sight the cheetah's exhaled in relief.

"I thought humans were mere rumours. I never thought they were real." One of the female archer's in the group breathed out in an awed tone.

"You all forget that the Dragon of Legend found one of them months ago." One of the male members of the group pointed out. "Then three more appeared in Warfang out of nowhere and all four of them retreated to where Spyro found the first one. We all know what happened then."

They all knew what happened afterwards. The place that Spyro found the one in green collapsed on top of them and they seemingly died. There were no bodies however when they searched through the rubble so everyone assumed they managed to escape somehow.

Having been away from contact for months they were pretty much ignorant of recent events and didn't know the humans not only survived, but the human Spyro found was captured and was taken to Warfang as an oddity.

Hunter decided that the group would follow these humans from a distance and if possible discover if they were hostile or not. If they were hostile then they will make sure they won't threaten anyone again. If they aren't, they'll try to make contact with them and make themselves as less imposing as they possibly can. They didn't want to get unnecessary casualties because of a misunderstanding.

Hunter quietly ordered the company to take to the trees and shadow them from above once the humans re-emerged from their cabin. This way they would be able to keep track of them and try to find out what their intentions are at the same time. They would soon find the humans would not leave the cabin until the very next day.

Sometime during the night it began to rain and continued through the night and well into the morning. Thankfully the cheetah's had taken shelter under the trees, which did its job at keeping the rain at bay through the night, and their fur coat had kept most of the cold away.

The next day the humans finally emerged from their cabin. The cheetah's were surprised when two more humans emerged from the cabin. These two wielded weapons that are different than the other two. From what they could see these two had attachments that on top that are similar to a telescope.

Looking at his comrades Hunter silently signalled the others to take to the trees. Nodding the cheetah's put their bows and crossbows away before bending their knees and leapt up into the air. Grabbing on to one of the thick branches they swung around before flipping themselves on top where they landed in a kneel. They did all this in a span of ten seconds without making a noise.

As the humans got close the cheetah's from their place in the trees could see the first two had a machete strapped to their waist. And they all were armed to the teeth.

Silently they followed the humans. Keeping themselves out of sight and manoeuvring as stealthy as possible the cheetah's were quick to realise they are heading Northwest. Hunter recalled there is a small settlement in that direction. It would take all morning, afternoon and evening for them to get there on foot.

It helped the humans stayed in the clearing. If they moved through the trees then he and his company would have difficulty keeping track of them. The rain was constantly washing their scent and washing the trail they left behind away.

As the morning passed and went into the late afternoon the human wearing the bandana stopped and raised his hand. The rest stopped and knelt down. Seeing this Hunter quickly gestured his group to stop moving; they then knelt down on the branch and took out their bows and crossbows just in case they were made.

The cheetah's held their breath when they heard a twig snap followed by several more. The bandana wearing human turned to his comrades and using what Hunter identified as sign language and hand signs the humans all took cover in the nearby bushes.

Several seconds after the humans hid themselves a group of elephant sized apes appeared out of the bushes nearly 40 metres away. They were covered in heavy armour from head to toe, armed from swords to spears, crossbows to bows and had a large round black shield that covered most of their back.

When the apes were out of sight the humans emerged from their hiding place.

"That was close. I never thought I'd say this; but those monkeys were fucking gigantic!" The human wearing an eye-patch exclaimed.

The human who replied was the one who was with the bandana yesterday. "I know. I'm just as surprised as you are Weaver." He said in a surprised tone. "That was the first time I saw baboon's of that size."

"Kinda makes you wonder what we got ourselves into." The human with the bandana said seriously. "If there are mammals that are that big, then what else is waiting for us? How dangerous are the other wildlife? Tiny lizard like geckos could be large predators for all we know!" He added after the other three had given him questionable looks.

It was then that one of the humans looked up, noticed it was getting dark and told the others they needed to get out of the woodlands before the sun goes down. And after asking for a compass they checked the direction they needed to head and went on their way.

The cheetah's of Avalar despite using the trees to navigate and keep out of sight were easily able to keep their pace with them. If they kept moving at the pace they were at, they would reach shelter within five hours at the most. Three at the least if the humans decided to run the rest of the way.

X.X.X.X

Samantha stared down at the excavation site with eager excitement. They were close to uncovering the weapon. She could feel it. Siberia now renamed Dante's Freezer was the last place the V-R11 was sighted.

It didn't look anything like the Siberia Samantha remembered however, as the continent had corroded to the point where it was smaller than it was a million years ago, and the entire landscape had changed to ice and snow preserving what remains of humanity under ice and snow.

The weapon is capable of bringing zombies back to life, seemingly removing all traces of element 115 from their bloodstream. Making them healthy. It was one of the inventions Group 935 had made to combat the undead if they had gotten out of control. But the ship that was transporting the device was lost at sea and one of the weapons capable of turning the tide against her undead minions was seemingly lost for good.

Then half a century later four actor's had unknowingly uncovered the sight. As they were making an apocalyptic zombie based movie on the Second World War, they accidentally unleashed the then slumbering hordes and coincidentally found her sworn enemies trapped behind a door that was frozen shut.

It was here that Samantha saw the V-R11 in action and seeing the effects it had against her minions knew it would be a thorn in her side if they somehow managed to mass produce it. The celebrities despite fighting ferociously were eventually overwhelmed and killed by her undead horde. It was a shame too. They were pretty entertaining to watch and the V-R11 was once again lost to the world.

If it was found again amongst this frozen wasteland she would be able to modify it to reverse it's effects, turning living healthy beings in to her undead servants.

Samantha shivered with excitement at the idea. She would be unstoppable with the V-R11 in her grasp.

For some reason however she can't help but think she has forgotten something very important.

X.X.X.X

Sparx floated in front of his adopted brother his arms crossed as he contemplated on what he had learnt. To Spyro's surprise the dragonfly was being surprisingly serious. As he brought Sparx up to speed with the current events, from missing villages and scouts going missing, to Dempsey's sudden return to Warfang. The dragonfly just listened.

He guessed Sparx knew how serious this was.

The dragonfly did almost panic when he told him about the undead dragons appearing and attacking the city. But he reassured that they managed to beat them back and Warfang didn't sustain as much casualties as they first thought.

They were lucky the damage and the death toll weren't substantial. Their Ancestors must've been watching them since there wasn't any casualties among the dead. Many a mole and dragon were injured defending Warfang but there weren't any deaths.

"This... is bad, Spyro." Sparx finally said after several minutes. "First I hear Cynder, the evil she dragon, is missing. Then the villages allied to us are going missing and scouts Warfang sent out are dropping off the face of the earth. And then human's returning and these undead showing up out of nowhere..."

"I know." Spyro said tiredly. "It's beginning to take its toll on me Sparx. I mean Dempsey has these strange new abilities, more human's are appearing out of thin air... What else is there? The apes are following some ancient evil spirit that is controlling the undead and bent on destroying all life?" He had no idea he had gotten it right on the mark.

Sparx looked around worryingly before floating beside his adopted brother. "Let's hope not." Seeing Spyro looking at his with a scaled brow he elaborated. "The Dark Master after he escaped from Convexity was physical. If there is someone controlling the dead, using them to wipe out all life, then how are you going to fight him if you can't see them?"

That actually was a good point. If there was someone controlling the dead behind the scenes, then how is he going to fight someone that could be invisible?

As he mused on this Sparx frowned thoughtfully as he began to contemplate on the similarities this had to the Dark Master. Whoever was doing this was willing to wipe out all life, just like the Dark Master. And like the Dark Master, there's an army doing the dirty work. Though in this case there are two armies: the apes who are somehow no longer cursed and the risen dead.

As he thought of that he began to assume the worst: that the Dark Master may also be behind this. It made sense. He was willing to murder millions to bring about a prophecy and what a better way to do it than have an army of undead to do the dirty work for you. As he relayed this to the purple dragon, Spyro shook his head negatively.

"I can see the similarities and why you would think that. But I don't think the Dark Master has anything to do with this. When I fought the apes, they kept referring to their master as 'The Holy One'. They didn't make any mention to the Dark Master."

Sparx stroked his chin. His eyes narrowed in thought. "Ok. So let's say that the Dark Master isn't involved. Is this 'Holy One' who is behind the vanishing villages, the missing scouts? Bringing dragons who were dead for a long time, back from the dead?"

"It is likely this 'Holy One' is the person who is behind all this." Both Spyro and Sparx turned when they heard Terrador speak. The Earth Guardian, along with the Ice and Electricity Guardians approached the brother's. "Malefor hated his own kind with a passion. He wanted to do everything he could in destroying all of us. Even reducing the corpses of the fallen to ashes as a final insult. Bringing our kin back from the dead, and fight us, is something not even he would do as his hatred is so great." He added as he, Volteer and Cyril sat down in front of the two with a dark expression forming on his face.

"Indeed and if I recall there were similar beings to the humans where Dempsey was first located correct?" Cyril questioned.

Spyro nodded a little uncertainly. There were corpses at that place. They weren't after the building collapsed. But they never had a problem this big. Dragon's being brought back and being used against their own kind. The apes freed of their curse and working for someone who created the undead dragons.

One of the ape's he fought hours ago practically exclaimed their new master is capable of bringing the dead to life. He was glad they weren't exactly smart as they wouldn't have divulged that information otherwise. But he had no idea if this person was the one who wiped humanity off the face of the Earth.

It was disturbing to think about. An ancient being capable of killing off an entire race. They just fought one that is capable of destroying the world and creating a new one in its place not to long ago. He was not keen on the idea of fighting another one.

"Nevertheless, we have dealt the enemy forces a savage blow when we repelled their attack with little to no casualties." Cyril exclaimed, trying to brighten everyone's spirits. And it worked if the slight smile everyone had was of any indication.

"Something tells me it isn't over yet." Terrador replied grimly. "It feels they were testing the water's of our defences. I have a feeling they will be back."

And just like that their spirits dampened again.

X.X.X.X

_With Dempsey and Co._

_Location: Unnamed village_

_Time: unspecified_

As he sat there on the ground Dempsey couldn't help but think how lucky they were to have found some shelter. They had managed to use the portable roll up ladder to cross to another rooftop. However one of them – mainly him – had to get off the roof, run to another building and climb up the wall and onto the roof. He was just lucky to have gotten out of that in one piece.

Fluffy was still pissed at him for shooting her in the face. There was many times where she had come close to taking a chunk out of his leg.

After he got the hell out of dodge and scaled the wall like a badass-mother-fucker, Takeo and Nikolai tossed the bottom end of the roll up ladder to him after they pinned the top end on the ledge of their building. It was a pretty straight forward process. He just make sure the bottom end of the ladder was secure on his end and they would be able to cross. Which they proceeded to do after he secured it.

Unfortunately getting from one building to another took a bit as one person at a time could cross. Some took their time in getting across. Polonsky and Nikolai being two of them.

Polonsky because the M1919 Browning put on a LOT of weight on him. He couldn't get rid of it because it was a valuable weapon against the undead and if he just tossed it away then they would be a weapon short, which means less chance of survival.

Nikolai's problem in getting across was pretty darn obvious: he is as hammered as a college student who went binge drinking. Plus he was fat. You cannot forget him being overweight! So include them two and the assault rifle it made the whole experience nerve racking and somewhat tedious.

There were times that the ladder would sway dangerously causing Nikolai to almost fall off. But in the end the drunk managed to get to the other side.

So by the time everyone was on the other building it was beginning to rain and the sun was about to go down. Luckily the roof they were on had a large shed that was absolutely cleared of all its contents. The apes likely cleaned everything out when they invaded the village. Thankfully everyone was able to fit inside and take shelter from the rain. Although there were gaps in the woodwork. So there was always a draft that would make them shiver.

At least they were dry and not wet.

"We need a plan here." Roebuck suddenly declared. He looked at the others with determination. "We can't let that thing waiting for us outside stalk us anymore. We need to get rid of it!"

Takeo slowly opened his eyes and calmly gazed at Roebuck from where he sat cross legged in the furthest corner from the others. "Indeed we do, American. But how do we deal with a creature that cannot die through conventional means?" It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Fluffy was meant to be the top dog of the hellhounds. The bitch who birthed them so to speak. The dog managed to shake off several bullets to the head. That much told Dempsey Fluffy was no ordinary hellhound and they needed some serious fire power to deal with it.

A weapon that was on the level of a wonder weapon. Like the Ray Gun. Or the electric gun Richtofen made; the Wunderwaffe DG-2.

"To deal with the dog we need some serious fire power. Fire power that can easily tip the scales in our favour and wipe out our enemies in a shot." Tank said, getting everyone to stare at him. One half in curiosity and the other half in realisation.

The one's who realised what he was talking about were his own group: Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen. For they have seen and used these weapon's first hand. Richtofen even designed some of them.

The marines however were in the dark on what Dempsey was talking about. So it wasn't surprising to see them looking at Dempsey with confusion and curiosity. Except for Miller. He remembered finding a side arm that appeared as a toy. It wasn't long until Miller realised just how deceiving its appearance was when he first used it. A pull of a trigger unleashed a green like ball of energy – that looked similar a ray of energy - that instantly disintegrated an entire group of Imperial soldiers. It destroyed a tank with two to three shots from almost a mile away.

It's been several months since he got that weapon just moments after he stepped on the beach of Peleliu. With him losing the gun sometime during the landings and all the fighting against the Japanese soldier's he had forgotten about it.

Now that he thought of it... he lost the gun when he threw it aside in a fit of rage after watching Sullivan get stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet from a Japanese soldier. Oddly no one made any mention on where the weapon was. He guessed the grief of watching someone they personally knew die in front of them made them forget about it.

"You wouldn't be talking about a weapon that can fire glowing green balls do you?" Miller asked

Both Roebuck and Polonsky gave him confused looks. Wondering what the hell he was talking about. It wasn't surprising that they forgot about the Ray Gun. Given what they all went through it felt like years had passed.

The crew of zombie slayers however were looking at him with a great measure of surprise. As if they weren't expecting someone outside of their group to know what he was talking about.

The four looked at one another in tense silence before Dempsey asked, "You know about the Ray Gun?"

"Know about it? I found one on Peleliu shortly after the landings. I lost it on the same day."

Dempsey frowned a little at that and gazed at Roebuck and Polonsky. The two were frowning. Their brows were creased as they tried to remember Miller having this weapon. After several minutes of tense, but patent silence, Polonsky was the first to remember. Then Roebuck followed shortly after.

"I remember... seeing you using a gun that looked like a child's toy." Roebuck stated. He gave Miller what looked to be a thoughtful look. "What happened to it?" Polonsky was curious to know too. As was everyone else in the room who was giving Miller their full attention.

"It's just as I said. I lost it the same day I found it. After... Sullivan died I guess everyone was too distressed to remember about it." The marine stated helplessly; pausing and looking depressed when he mentioned his old sergeant.

Roebuck stroked his chin. "Do you remember how you lost it?"

"No sir, I don't." Miller lied convincingly with a shake of his head.

"Before we get carried away; we need to bring our attention back to our little problem that's just outside." Dempsey deadpanned at the marines. The blonde man paced back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back. "With the mutt hunting us being able to shake off our bullet's we are almost out of options. We need better weaponry."

Polonsky was about to make a suggestion when Nikolai all of a sudden butted in.

"Can't you just pull a highly advanced weapon out of your ass like you did last time? Or get this 'author' you keep talking too to help us out?"

"To your first question: no. It doesn't work like that. I can only use it once per day, twice depending on how powerful the weapon is. Two: I have no idea who you're talking about." He explained for the first question. Then he dismissively waved Nikolai's second question off while adopting a clueless look.

Takeo and Richtofen groaned to themselves in irritation but didn't say anything. Nikolai on the other hand had crossed his arms against his chest while giving the marine a sceptical look. The Marine Raider's were gazing between the four with clueless looks.

"I just wonder how long you are going to keep up this façade of yours, American. Even before you were inside that stasis pod, you were always speaking to someone we could not see." For the first time they were with him everyone was shocked Nikolai spoke in a clean, clear sentence without being drunk.

"...What?" Dempsey was too shocked to say anything else. His mind was still trying to comprehend that Nikolai, frickin' Nikolai, had spoken in a clear sentence.

"What? What did I say before? Ohhh, where are we?" And just like that Nikolai reverted to a drunk. "What the fuck you all are looking at? It is something I wear?" Nikolai asked upon noticing everyone staring at him as if he had a second head.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Richtofen was giving Nikolai a hard look when no one was looking at him. It wasn't the first time this had happened to his test subjects. Nor would it be the last. During the first few months when he injected Element 115 into their blood stream his test subjects would sometimes go in these phases where their original personality would surface for a short period of time.

At times their original personality would appear for several seconds. Lasting up to several minutes before they are submerged back into the deep recesses of their subconscious. There were times that Takeo would under go this phase.

During these phases they had to resort to putting him in restraints when the samurai resisted them. Group 935 had quickly learnt to restrain all their test subjects when they went through these phases, as they all fought with such ferocity that was akin to a demon.

It was during these phases that Richtofen concluded that some people are naturally resilient to Element 115.

He quickly learnt that Takeo, Nikolai, Dempsey and Samantha are the minority of the test subjects who are naturally resistant to Element 115. Samantha more so than others. The side effect's that all previous test subject's had after they were injected were not present in her.

"We need to do something!" Richtofen was taken from his thoughts and looked Polonsky with mild annoyance on his face. "We got weapons with us. Let's use them!"

"I pretty much said our weapons have no effect on the mutt outside. She took a whole clip from my pistol and she just shook it off." Dempsey retorted with crossed arms. "But..." He trailed off, looking at everyone's equipment and mentally listed off what they all had in their possession.

Richtofen has the MP-40. Nikolai and Takeo has the AK-74u. Polonsky has the M1919 Browning. Roebuck has the B.A.R, and Miller has the Thompson.

All of them are fully automatic. Alone their weapons might not work completely on the hellhound. But if they are used together they might be enough to hurt her and make the hellhound flee.

Tank nodded to himself as a plan formed in his head. He took his place to the nearest wall where he could see everyone. "Ok. I have an idea. It's a long shot. But if I'm right then this can work." Everyone looked at each other before they leaned in to listen with curiosity.

_20 minutes later._

The plan Dempsey came up with was simple: from the roof Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were to open fire on Fuffy at the exact same time. Miller and Roebuck would then open fire on the ground behind Fluffy when it looked she was about to run. Making her back up into the range of fire.

Polonsky would open fire on Fluffy at the same time as Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen. They had to do this carefully however. Given their ammo shortage they are allowed to use one magazine. After that they weren't allowed to open fire. With the most powerful weapon in their possession so far being the M19191 Browning they were sure to send Fluffy back where she came from.

So here they were. Knelling at the ledge of the roof with the rain battering against their faces drenching them from head to toe. The sun was down and the sky was beginning to darken. Combined with the fog it made the search for the annoying mutt difficult. The rain was likely dousing the flames that covered her making the dog even more difficult to find.

Dempsey narrowed his eyes when he heard the familiar growl. He gazed at his fellow zombie slayers. He saw the three tense up and with a steady breath they took aim. They wouldn't be able to kill her, that's what Samantha said. But they are able to hurt her. So taking that into mind they might be able to hurt Fluffy enough that the dog has to flee to heal.

Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen knew what they were looking for. Having been through this several times already. So when they saw glowing crimson eyes glaring at them from the mist, they didn't hesitate opening fire.

The combined assault from two assault rifles and one sub-machine gun was damaging to Fluffy. Even with the fog concealing the entire of her body the bullets were able to strike true in the one place that would deal the most damage: the head. Howling in pain Fluffy swiftly turned and was about to make her escape.

Roebuck and Miller quickly put a stop to that. When the fog began to thin out the marines were able to make out where the hellhound was. The two as planned fired at the ground in front of Fluffy the moment she was about to run off. This forced the hellhound to back up in the opposite direction of where she intended to go. Right back in the range of fire.

Polonsky partook in the assault. Firing on the hellhounds torso. The combined assault started to tear off the already torn flesh from her bones. Another pained howl was sound and Fluffy made another attempt at retreating. Miller and Roebuck quickly opened fire and put her back in the line of fire.

Takeo and Nikolai ran out of ammo at the same time with the two of them having the same weapon. Richtofen out of the three had the most ammo in the magazine was the last to run out. Now it was up to Polonsky.

With Miller and Roebuck doing their job in keeping Fluffy in the range of fire, the Dempsey lookalike was able to keep on firing.

Several moments later the group heard another pained howl from Fluffy. This time they all heard a wet' thud' that was companied with pained whines.

Thunder sounded through the sky before the group was taken by surprise when they heard Samantha cry out at them in concern and distress. "FLUFFY! VHAT HAVE YOU SCHWEINHUND'S DONE TO HER!?"

Dempsey smirked cockily as he looked up. "I think you know what we did. Now why don't you be a good little girl and take your mutt away from here?"

"...Zhis isn't over. Not by a long shot!" She promised, growling dangerously.

Dempsey crossed his arms glaring up at the sky with a deep frown as the rain pelted his face. "And we'll beat you back again like we did the last time."

"...Ve shall see. At zhis moment my army are excavating a site for a weapon zhat vill tip the scales in my favour. Let us see how confident you are when zhe odds are against you. Again."

Before anyone could make a retort the group jumped back in surprise when they all saw a bolt of lightning strike down from the sky. Right where Fluffy was lying. Reigning in their surprise the humans ran to the ledge of the roof and stared as another bolt of lighting struck the ground in the same place as the first.

Neither of them heard the dog howl out in pain. Another bolt of lightning struck. Once again in the same place. This time however they noticed the hellhound was gone. Samantha took Fluffy away. The group of humans breathed out in relief as they watched the mist that covered the entire of the village begin to thin out and clear.

"We won...?" Miller said, purely in disbelief. He looked at the others for comfirmation. "Did we actually win this?"

Takeo nodded. "Indeed we have American. For now."

"Yeah." Dempsey said nodding in agreement. "For now. But I don't like what the girl said about a weapon that could tip the scales in her favour." He turned and looked at Richtofen with a frown. "Do you know anything about this, Doctor?"

Richtofen shook his head with a deep frown looking confused as to what she meant. "Nien. I unfortunately have no idea what the little brat is talking about." After the sentence left his mouth the Nazi scientist frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. Narrowing his eyes he tried remembering what Group 935 created that was capable of tipping the balance.

There is quite a few of them. His DG-2 is one of the weapons capable of tipping the odds in the favour of whoever wields it. The Geresh Device was another. A machine that could open up a black hole. The Thunder Gun is able to unleash a blast of highly concentrated wind that was capable of shattering bones and blowing people off their feet.

And then there is the Ray Gun that could disintegrate multiple people with a single shot. It could even destroy a small sector of a concrete wall. Which is nothing to sneeze at mind you.

But at this point in time those Group 935 creations won't matter. They would have been completely and utterly useless to them from the corrosion of time. Unless they had the mystery box. Or they were somehow preserved.

"If zhere vas a veapon zhat could tip zhe scales in Samanth's favour, it vould have been useless to her in zhis point in time. Zhe corrosion of time is inescapable." The doctor added after his thought process was complete.

Dempsey shook his head. "I dunno. Remember how I ended up here the first time?" He said, referring to him being in a stasis pod that remained functional for a million years.

"You may have a point, American." Reluctantly conceded the Nazi.

"So what do we do now?" Polonsky asked.

Roebuck gazed at the village with a contemplative look on his face. They had nowhere else to go and this place was now abandoned after some... rather strange events. What with everyone apart from them suddenly vanishing. Plus the fire that was heading toward them was taken care of by the dragon's and if it wasn't then the rain would have stopped it in its tracks.

"Something on your mind sir?" Miller asked getting Roebuck glance at him for a moment before turning his gaze back on the village.

"Yeah. We could make this village into our HQ. Or at the very least an outpost." He suggested, getting everyone to look at him with interest. Even Takeo was paying attention and not outright ignoring him. "We have nowhere else to go and this place is now abandoned. If we set up shop here we have a place to fall back too. Plus it has some areas that overlook the streets and it's easily defensible."

"Hmm. I see what you mean." Dempsey said now peering over the village with keen eyes. "These roof tops are good for spotting enemies from afar and you can see the streets fairly well from where we are. The buildings - though most of them are made out of wood and wheat - are easily defensible."

"But where are we going to get the equipment and materials needed to fortify this place?" Polonsky asked out of curiosity.

"There's seven of us altogether. Four can go out and see what they can find. Be it food, water or just some plain wood to keep us warm at night and bring them here. The other three can stay and see what they can scavenge from these buildings."

With that being said. The seven soldiers looked at one another. Everyone, apart from Dempsey who suggested this, was looking a little unsure as to who should go out and look for food, water and wood.

Dempsey was the first to volunteer. Nikolai followed up almost automatically. Takeo knowing just how the other American's would react with him close by, with great reluctance joined with Dempsey and Nikolai.

Richtofen merely shook his head and joined the other three. He was with them from the very beginning and while he hated their guts, a lot of the time, he had to admit they were one shockingly effective team once they fought side by side as one instead as four. Plus with Dempsey showing side effects from being inside the stasis pod he had to be there to make sure it didn't go out of control. Nikolai's original personality resurfacing was also a concern for him. As Richtofen didn't know just how this would affect Nikolai's psyche.

As much as he would like to keep Nikolai's original personality suppressed he didn't have any Element 115 in his possession to do that. But in Dempsey's case he had a supply of Syrettes on him. Just in case the side effects begin to have negative effects on him.

The group climbed down the roof and then separated to do their assigned tasks. One group to scavange and the other to look for wood, water and wood.

X.X.X.X

_Unnamed Village._

_Sometime around midnight._

It was dark out by the time the members of the Studies and Observation Group, along with the cheetah's shadowing them them finally encountered an abandoned village. Using the shrubbery nearest to them as cover, Hudson and Weaver peered through the bushes and used the scope on their rifle to search the roofs and streets for any activity.

"It looks abandoned." Weaver announced as he lowered his rifle. Hudson however keep scanning for activity, having been through many operations to know that looks can be deceiving.

"Looks can be deceiving, Weaver." Woods said lowly. He carefully scrutinised the layout of the village as much as he could from his position. While he didn't like how abandoned the place looked, it was the first settlement they encountered in nearly ten hours. They didn't know if the residents – if there are any – were hostile or not.

With that in mind the Master Sergeant began to lay out orders, "Alright, Mason and I are going to approach the village to see if there are any residents occupying the village. You two will be staying here just in case they are hostile. If they are cover our escape."

"And if they're not hostile?" Mason asked getting himself ready to move out.

"Then we hopefully will have somewhere to stay."

Nodding Mason and Woods moved out and cautiously approached the village with Weaver and Hudson covering them from within the bushes. They didn't notice their stalker's above listening in on their conversation.

"So these humans aren't complete barbarians." One of the female cheetah's said lowly as she and the others watched Woods and Mason slowly approach the village. "Good thing we can understand them when they speak, otherwise we would think they were preparing to attack."

When they got to the village the two operatives took cover beside a building nearest to them. Peering over the edge Woods squinted his eyes as he scanned the area. It was suspicious. There was no one about. There were no lights. No patrols or outposts. Nothing that would tell them the village was being occupied.

Signalling to his friend they were about to move, Woods went out of cover but hugged the wall so they wouldn't be attacked but made sure to check all the corners they came across just in case someone was lying in waiting for them.

It wasn't until they were halfway in the village that their noses were assaulted by an awful stench that almost made them gag. The stench smelt like burning flesh, but with something unfamiliar added to it. Looking at one another, both Woods and Mason nodded once as one, before following the smell.

If there was something or someone burning, logically there would be someone there doing it. If there wasn't they wouldn't be far away.

Right turn. Straight forward for several metres. Take a left through an alleyway. Then continuing straight ahead before coming to a clearing that was on the other side of the village. The S.O.G found in front of them a large pile of corpses made out of apes, similar to the ones they encountered hours earlier that was well out of the way of the village.

However these ones weren't as as tall. And were stripped of their weapons and equipment.

Also they happened to be the main cause of the nasty stench. Given they are all on fire.

Just as they were about to make their approach they were taken by surprise when they heard a gruff American voice say, "Don't. Move." in a threatening manner behind them.

Tensing Woods with a scowl growled in frustration while Mason scoffed in irritation, remembering they have gone out of Weaver and Hudson's line of sight. The two let go of their weapons, letting it hang from the sling and raised their hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Polonsky, Miller, make sure they don't try to do anything stupid."

"Understood sir."

"You got it serge."

The two S.O.G operatives took a double take when they saw two marines' wearing slightly outdated military uniform step in front of them. The youngest of the two – a teenager they noted - was aiming his M1919 Browning at Mason's face and the other aiming at Woods with his Thompson sub-machine gun.

Both Woods and Mason recognised what era those uniforms.

The Marine Raiders. From what Alex remembered, his father was part of the Marine Raiders. But they've been defunct after the Japanese were defeated. So it wasn't surprising for Mason to be confused.

"Name and rank?" The man behind them demanded.

"Frank Woods. Master Sergeant." Woods answered.

Polonsky and Miller shared a quick, unsure glance before looking back at Woods and Mason.

"What's the name of your unit Master Sergeant?" Polonsky asked as he narrowed his eyes with scepticism.

"Studies and Observations Group." The Master Sergeant replied honestly.

Miller and Polonsky shared another look before looking at Roebuck who was just as clueless as them.

"I have never heard of that group. Sarge, you and Miller were in the military longer than I. Have you heard of this... studies and Observations group?" Polonsky asked, gazing between Miller and Roebuck with an expectant look.

Miller shook his head negatively. "No. I haven't." He frowned in thought before he looked at their weapons. They were advanced. Much like the weapons the Jap, and Soviet were using. Narrowing his eyes Miller asked, "Roebuck, do you think these two got here the same way we did?"

"What do you mean?" Mason asked.

"Were you blinded by a bright light before you lost conscious? And the next thing you knew, you woke up in an unknown location?" From their surprised expressions' Miller guessed it got it right on the first try. The private shook his head while letting out an exasperated sigh. He lowered his weapon a bit as he sighed, "Great. They are just like us. Out of time and out of place."

"Out of place and out of time?" Woods asked, gazing between the marines in front of him with a surprised expression. He was so surprised that he lowered his arms. Neither of the marine raider's did anything about it though. "What do you mean by that?"

"What he means is you were both taken from your time period and were brought here for reasons unknown." Roebuck explained as he finally stood in front of the two. Signalling Miller and Polonsky to stand down the two complied and lowered their weapons, and relaxed their posture allowing Woods and Mason to do the same. But they still looked at one another warily. "Apart from us three there are four others here, but they left to hunt some food, and gather water and wood. One's a fellow marine like us."

"Who are the other three?" Mason asked.

"Believe it or not, a Japanese, Russian and German." Polonsky made a face when Roebuck referenced to Takeo and Richtofen. He wasn't surprised to see the two men narrow their eyes at the mention of the German. Given what they've done.

"You're working together with a Kraut?" Woods asked them with a frown. Though it sounded more like a demand than a question.

"It's not as if we like it." Polonsky admonished him with a heavy frown. "Even more so with the Tojo. But given where we are and what we've seen, not working with the Kraut, Soviet and Imperial would have been unfavourable to our survival."

After what both Mason and Woods seen before they got here. They could understand. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. After seeing the giant apes they would have, rather reluctantly, cast aside their differences with the enemy to survive if they found them.

"Do you know when the other four will be back?" Mason asked with curiosity.

"Right now." The four looked to the right and found the very people they were talking about staring at them.

The Japanese, Takeo was giving them a look of indifference beneath his cap. Though he did take a moment of interest in their weapons, noting they were the M-16 assault rifles that Dempsey was so found of. Given their attire the Imperial officer deduced they were time a different time period.

Nikolai like Takeo he noticed they had an assault weapon that Dempsey was fond of. He also noticed their attire and how different they were compared to the marines. They were more futuristic. However being himself he quickly lost interest and in a drunken gaze he looked around the village.

Richtofen looked almost amused at the glares the S.O.G operatives were giving him. He out of the others took a great interest in their military attire, noting how different they are to what he and the others wore. Like Takeo he quickly deduced these men were from a different time period.

Dempsey was giving the duo curious glances and inwardly smirked when he saw the two of them glare at Richtofen. He was glad there was at least someone else, apart from the other marine raiders' who showed their distain for the German.

"So who are them two?" Dempsey asked curiously as he gestured to Woods and Mason.

"The one in the bandana is called Frank Woods. He and the other guy is from a unit that calls itself 'Studies and Observations Group'. I never heard of it though." The Dempsey look alike said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Perhaps they are from the future?" Takeo suggested now giving the two men a look over with great curiousity. It was in interesting theory. One that isn't completely impossible. Group 935 has made several major technical breakthroughs; and one of them teleporters that had somehow transported himself, Dempsey, Nikolai and Richtofen several years into the future.

Their weapons supported his theory too. Since their weapons weren't deployed after they got themselves sent through time.

"Yeah. That's possible." Dempsey agreed with a nod. "The seven of us were from the 1940s after all and we were brought here." He added as he scratched his left cheek.. "So it's not surprising these two came from a different era, given their attire and weaponry."

"Speaking of weaponry, don't the Imperial and Soviet have advanced weaponry with them too?" Miller asked, motioning to Takeo and Nikolai respectively.

"Yeah, actually they do." Dempsey confirmed with a nod. "The AK74u I think the weapon is called. Don't know where they found it though. My guess is they found it off of some poor bastard who fell fighting against, you-know-what." He lied. He didn't want the other six to know he, Takeo, Richtofen and Nikolai time travelled to the 1960s after fighting zombies before they suddenly found themselves back in the dragon realms again.

Oh yeah, he can totally see that going down well. Note the sarcasm. Plus the way the S.O.G operatives were giving Richtofen 'the look' it would have been unwise to tell them that. More so if they happened to be searching for any remnants of the Nazi party after the Second World War ended.

...And Richtofen happened to be in a Nazi uniform. Fucking great. He would have to keep an eye on them two from now on.


	21. Chapter 21

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 6

There weren't many things that surprised Hudson. Few of those surprises ever shocked him. His close encounter with the apes had both surprised and shocked him. Having never seen anything like them before.

When Woods and Mason came back and told them they encountered humans inside the village he was both relived and surprised. That relief was short lived however when one of the humans turned out to be a Nazi. The uniform the German wore was a pretty big give away.

It was of no surprise when Weaver and Hudson turned their weapons on the Nazi when they saw him. Richtofen was amused at the angered looks they were giving him and had to stop himself from laughing mockingly when Weaver had to be restrained.

Eventually Weaver was able to control himself and once his personal problems were out of the way Hudson began asking questions. Neither of them had noticed the cheetah's approaching the village streets as stealthy as possible.

"What happened here?"

"Apes attacked this place believe it or not. And seeing how unsurprised you four look I'm guessing you saw them before?" Roebuck asked upon seeing the mildly unsurprised looks on their faces.

Hudson nodded and sighed. "Yeah. We ran into a group of them a while back but we managed to hide from them." He explained. "What else is there about this place we should know about?"

Dempsey scratched his chin. "Well, apart from living real life dragons, midget sized moles and adult human sized cheetah's who can walk on their own two feet and all of whom can speak perfect English? Not so much."

Everyone gave the former Marine Raider deadpanned looks for his sarcasm.

"What?"

Richtofen shook his head, glaring at Dempsey with disgust. "Vill you ever take zhis seriously American?"

"What and be a miserable bastard like yourself?" Dempsey looked as if he were insulted by the very idea. "Not a chance you insane psychopath!"

Richtofen sneered at the man. "At least I am not stupid. Just. Like. You." He said, goading him in attacking him before shoving Dempsey back. It was Dempsey's turn to sneer at the man who glared back in a challenging manner. But instead of lashing out, like Takeo and Nikolai were expecting, Dempsey took a calming breath and backed down.

Weaver staring at the German and American with his one good eye, looked at Takeo and Nikolai and asked,"Does this happen all the time with you four?"

Nikolai and Takeo nodded but with Nikolai actually providing the reply. "Da. It is always like this comrade. We all hate each other, but we put aside our differences in order to work together to survive."

Frank shook his head at that as he scratched the back of his neck. "I'm surprised you four had lasted this long if that's the case."

"We have our moments." Nikolai stated with an uncaring shrug before he gazed between Dempsey and Richtofen, who were now staring each other down. "Dempsey and Richtofen hate one another. But against common foe, they set aside their hatred and fight together."

"So what were you seven planning to do with this village?" Woods asked as he and the other members of his group stared at Dempsey and Richtofen with caution who were glaring at one another.

"We're planning to turn this place in our outpost." Roebuck answered with a shrug. "Seeing as we have nowhere to go and this place is now abandoned, everyone thought it was best to have some place to hole up."

"Plus the area is pretty defensible." Dempsey piped up. He gestured to the buildings. "The rooftops give us a pretty good overview of the entire village; the streets are open and the village itself isn't that big."

The cheetah's led by Hunter of Avalar by this time were well hidden, and were overlooking the group of humans from the roofs. Lying flat on their stomachs' the cheetah's as they peered over the edge, mentally counted how many humans there are.

They were able to recognise Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen from the description they received of them. Though the four were a lot older than they were told. The other three Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck were ones they didn't recognise. Seeing this amount of humans – even if they aren't many – greatly concerned them.

And hearing the village being attacked by apes? That was, in their eyes, impossible as the apes have been cursed by the Dark Master after he was freed and they fled underground to hide.

Unfortunately as mentioned before the cheetah's have been out of the loop for quite a while and don't know of the current events. That included the attack on Warfang that happened several hours ago. Though to be fair neither do the humans know of the undead attack on Warfang.

"Hunter, what are your orders?" A male cheetah lying down next to him whispered. When he didn't get a reply he looked at the leader, only to see he wasn't there. Eyes widening the cheetah looked around wildly before spotting Hunter slowly making his way to the group of humans, his arms raised above his head to show he was no threat to them.

The humans' noticing there was someone approaching quickly turned and aimed their weapons at the person making his way to them. Those who never encountered them before were surprised to see a anthropomorphic cheetah slowly walking to them with his arms raised above his head. Showing he was not threat to them.

Narrowing his eyes a little Dempsey lowered his pistol and met the cheetah halfway. The two stopped in the middle. Dempsey standing tall with narrowed eyes and crossed arms and Hunter slowly lowering his arms to his side.

"So you are the human Spyro found those months ago. Surprising. You were thought to have been killed when the dragons forcibly collapsed that building on your head." Hunter looked over Dempsey's shoulder and easily recognised Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen from the description he had learnt from the Dragon Guardians. "And the other three who somehow infiltrated the dragon city without being caught are here too." He looked back at Tank with a look that was akin to suspicion. "What brings you here? Why have you shown yourself at this time?"

"We were brought here for reasons unknown to us." Dempsey replied after a minute of tense silence. "As for why we're here, well, it's because we are investigating the disappearances that has been happening lately on the behalf of the dragons." It was a partial lie. He was the only only one meant to investigate. Him reuniting with his fellow zombie slayers, and meeting up with some fellow Marine Raiders was just a bonus.

Hunter looked sceptical and crossed his arms. "And what have you found so far pertaining the disappearances?" He asked.

Dempsey wasn't stupid. He knew what Hunter was trying to do: fish for information. But seeing as he had nothing to lie or hide he told the cheetah the truth.

Suffice to say the cheetah, if Hunter wasn't sceptical then he was now. From what he got from the scarred human, this abandoned village was invaded by apes who took the occupants prisoner. That he could believe. The humans he and his group were following had hidden themselves from a group of giant apes as they made their way to this village.

What he didn't believe was the undead dragon they managed to re-kill by blowing it up. And whose body parts are conveniently missing with the charred landscape a well ways away out of the village being the only evidence they had and the flaming dogs of mass destruction.

There was a part of the road that was torn to pieces from the bullets used to make Fluffy back up in the line of fire. And the torn chunks of rotten flesh. Those were the only things they had as proof for the hellhound being there.

With the excellent poker face Dempsey and the others were giving him it made it difficult for Hunter to know if the blonde haired human was lying about the hellhound.

As Dempsey and Hunter stared each other down Polonsky leaned towards Miller. "This is kinda weird isn't it?" The teenager whispered.

"What do you mean?" Asked Miller glancing at his friend curiously.

"That there's a cheetah who can walk and talk like us. And no one is freaking out about it."

Miller scratched his cheek before crossing his arms. "Well we did just see a flaming dog that could shake off bullets. Even dragons and apes. So it's obvious we can keep our cool after all that." He then gestured to the S.O.G. "They saw apes as well when they were on their way here. Afterwards they must have suspected there are other animals who evolved too."

Polonsky nodded, seeing the truth in his words. "I can see the truth in that. I wonder what else we might see in the future though. A llama? An eagle?"

"Not bloody likely." Miller replied. "They could have evolved into something else entirely for all we know." In Miller's mind the likelihood of them seeing an anthropomorphic eagle or llama is very unlikely. Despite they saw four different animals in this village already. The moles and wolves, cheetah's and dragons.

Never-the-less there was a chance, a small chance, but a chance nonetheless, that they can run into a anthropomorphic llama. It would prove to be an interesting experience.

Oh what was he thinking. This whole entire thing is an extraordinary experience.

X.X.X.X

"This whole thing is tedious." Cynder whined inwardly, in spite of the fact she was practically doing nothing to help in the search. "But I can't really complain about it..." She breathed out under her breath in sheer boredom.

She had spent all day in Dante's Freezer watching her minions digging up the ice and snow, while uncovering a structure that bared some resemblance to the Skavengers flying pirate ships. Though this ship was made entirely out of metal while the Skavengers ships were made mostly out of wood. She couldn't leave the dam place either. At most the furthest she can go before 'The Holy One' enforces her will through the key she ate and making her go back is up to two metres.

Now she was conflicted. There was something here that the girl wants. It was a weapon. Ignitus had warned her about it; it was created by human hands long ago and was and still is capable of wiping out all life on the planet. It sounded eerily similar to the titan that threatened to destroy the planet after Malefor awoke it from its slumber.

It was worse than that. The weapon can kill everything. Turning them into an undead parody of their former selves. Much like the undead dragons that were scouting the area tirelessly. As much as she hated to admit it, humans were geniuses when it came to inventing.

If Malefor had known about the weapon's existence then he would have put all his resources into its retrieval long ago. No one would have stood a chance against him.

But back to the point: so far there has been little progress in the search. The area was just covered in too much ice and snow that it made the excavation progress slow. There was also a lot of land to cover too and she had limited resources. The resources being the apes and undead dragons.

She was glad for that. Having less people in the search crew means the longer it will take to retrieve the weapon. But the place creeped her the hell out. The reason being she could hear music in the wind. But it was faint. She could even hear someone sing to the music but again it was faint. Faint enough that she couldn't hear most of what was being said.

"_Gone! Cast away in time. Evil yours, now evil mine..."_ Cynder closed her eyes as the song started up again. And like last time there were missing lyrics in it._ "...You can't break me! Crushed the fears of yesterday! You can't change me! Barriers – our trust will fade..." _

As far as she knew no one apart from her could hear the song. While it creeped her out the song gave her something to listen too. It sounded appropriate to their surroundings oddly enough. By the third repeat she began to hum along with the song. By the tenth she knew most of the song by heart, apart from the ones that were muted.

"Thank god there's not a snowstorm about to roll in." Cynder muttered to herself as she laid her head down. Silently thankful the apes had constructed their camp fairly quickly so the coldness of the ice didn't get through the floor covers in the tents. "This would take longer than it normally should if one did." She sighed out before closing her eyes. She quickly fell asleep minutes later.

Above the camp in the night sky the ghostly transparent body of Samantha floated. Staring down at the camp with a calculating gaze. She scratched the back of her head in confusion. There was something wrong but she couldn't think of what it was. The black scaled dragon had just gone to sleep; the progress of the search for the V-R11 is well under way; their camp was made and her prototype undead were standing guard.

Everything was going according to plan so far.

So why the hell did she feel uneasy?

Sighing Samantha ran her hand through her hair and began to wonder what her father would have done. She wanted to fulfil her father's last wish: kill everyone in Group 935. She almost succeeded too, then Richtofen took his test subjects with him and began to use them to fight her hordes of undead.

Frustratingly everywhere they went they manage to narrowly escape her clutches. It severally pissed her off. She thought she finally won in Der Riese when Richtofen, Takeo and Nikolai were at last killed. But to her mistake she had overlooked Dempsey' and his survival revived them. After finding out they were still alive, she snapped, but she reigned in her temper and sent her horde on them. After a lengthy battle on both sides' with neither gaining the upper hand, Richtofen had done the impossible. He. Threw. Them. Across time.

And then after an undetermined amount of time they found Dempsey and brought him back. She didn't even know where they went. They just upped and vanished into thin air and then magically came back inside an old theatre almost ten years later. She wasn't surprised to see them all with a more older and ragged looking appearance given they were gone for several years.

What she found suspicious was how relieved the four looked when they discovered where they were. She was surprised when Dempsey actually laughed in relief when he saw the decaying Nazi corpses limping inside the theatre before heading off to kill them. Heck the last time they fought her undead army they were getting fed up and pissed at their appearance.

For the longest time she wondered what brought this change. And now 1 million years later, where humanity is extinct, she finally found out why. Dempsey was here before. He had even met some of the creatures that made earth their home.

Too bad she was going to destroy them. Even after the world was saved from destruction several months before.

She had several plans up her sleeve. One of them was to test out Warfang's defences. Another was to find the V-R11 and that was under way. Another one was to spread her forces out under everyone's noses. She did it before when she sent her minions against humanity and they were able to quickly spread. She could do the same here.

The civilizations of this time period are primitive. Some resistance will be expected but they would not hold out for long against her undead armies. They don't have the effectiveness of weapons humans had all those years ago. The humans who are here now would pose a problem however. Out of the eleven, four of them are ones who were a constant nuisance in her side. The other seven would have to be watched now they are teaming up with her antagonists.

Along with that cheetah who calls himself 'Hunter of Avalar'.

That's right. She was there when Hunter revealed himself. She is on a higher plane where she can see everything after all. Being able to see and keep track of Dempsey and the other's at the same time isn't that hard of a task. Trying to keep track of everyone's movements, at the same time, while ordering her undead minions around. That is a hard task. Any time she lost concentration the zombies would suddenly stop perusing and stand in place, screaming up toward the skies as they held their head.

Drumming her digits against her bare arm Samantha sat down cross-legged on an invisible floor. Moving her gaze away from Cynder she brought her focus back to the humans. While she was still pissed at them hurting her ever faithful dog Fluffy she couldn't help but applaud on their plan on getting rid of her.

Such plans deserve a reward and they were several hours over due of it. Smirking Samantha got up and flexed her fingers. She had the perfect reward in mind for them.

X.X.X.X

"That is quite the story you have told me, human." Hunter said after Dempsey had finished explaining to the cheetah of the events that led them to making the village an outpost of theirs. "While some parts of your tale is... unbelievable, I can tell what is a lie and what is truth." He shook his head and looked at the blonde haired man with reluctance. "And you claim there is an enemy capable of reanimating the dead?" When Dempsey nodded Hunter seemed to slump his shoulders in disbelief. "I don't know if I should believe you or not."

"You can try heading back to Warfang for confirmation. The remaining Dragon Guardians are the ones who took one of them on with a bit of help from yours truly."

Hunter squinted his eyes in suspicion. "Why would they be there and not here?"

"I was with them. Then I suddenly found myself with the other humans, while the dragons engaged with the undead. Then everyone here vanished. They're likely back at Warfang right now." Dempsey replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "My guess is some higher being took them away."

Hunter felt his eye twitch in annoyance. Did the human think he was stupid or something? "Do you expect me to believe that something had brought everyone, apart from the humans that were already here, away to some place else?" He asked rhetorically. He crossed his arms and looked sceptically at Tank as he added, "I'm not going to believe your words until I get some proof of this 'higher being'."

Tank frowned at that and opened his mouth to reply. He and everyone else was taken by surprise when a giant orb of sparking electricity manifested out of nowhere several metres away from the group.

Suddenly the orb expanded. Everyone quickly backed away from the rapidly expanding orb of electricity with their weapons aimed at it. They all yelled out in surprise when they were suddenly blinded by a flash of light, making them cover their eyes instinctively. The blinding flash of light had managed to illuminated the entire of the village.

Blinking repeatedly until his eyesight came back Tank slowly lowered his arm before lowering it completely, shocked at what he saw.

"Holy shit." He quietly muttered. His eyes slowly grew wide as he slowly looked at the others and found they too were surprised at what appeared before them.

It was a Mark IV tank. An armoured vehicle that was first introduced in the First World War. Unlike the other Mark IV tanks, this one had two mounted machine guns one on each side of the tank, a platform with banisters and railings on top to keep people from falling off. A skull with two crossed bones behind it painted on the guard of the tank. And three exhausts on the front of both sides of the tank and two large ones near the back.

Dempsey looked at Hunter who was staring at the Mark IV with his mouth all agape as he stared at the tank with an expression of disbelief. "You wanted proof of a higher being?" He said, gesturing to the tank with a 'I told you so' expression. "There's your proof of a higher being."

"Is Sam giving gift's to us now?" Richtofen mused quietly to himself. "And vhat took so long?"

"Perhaps she is gifting us for defeating her herrspawn?" Takeo suggested, having heard Richtofen question himself and remembered their combined efforts in making Samantha take her pet away to get healed.

"That does not make any sense whatsoever." Nikolai replied in a dismissive tone. "Why would that fucking annoying little girl reward us for hurting her giant-flaming annoying pet?"

"What about the times where we could collect those glowing, froating icons from the corpses of the undead?" Takeo asked. He was getting noticeably better at speaking english now, having been able to include the L's in some of the words.

"This is Samantha we are talking about. Remember? The little girl whose haunting us because she wants to torment us because of him?" The sarcasm wasn't lost on Takeo who was staring at Nikolai as he gestured to Richtofen, who looked offended at the accusation, but didn't defend himself because it was true. "Who knows what is going through that head of hers?"

Takeo eventually nodded. "Indeed. The mind of a child is unpredictable."

As Takeo and Nikolai were conversing/arguing with one another with Richtofen listening in with little to no interest – Nikolai does say some funny things once in a while, sue him – the other humans 'including the cheetah's who were on the roof tops are staring at the tank with wide disbelieving eyes.

Frank rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When the tank didn't disappear he turned to Mason who was also staring at the tank with wide disbelieving eyes. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing Alex!?"

Mason slowly nodded with a partially open mouth. "Yeah, Woods. I'm seeing but I'm not believing."

Hudson pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief. "Just what have we gotten ourselves into?" He questioned himself exasperatingly.

"I-I have no choice but to believe you now." Hunter stammered out. He quickly looked at the rooftops and bringing his thumb and forefinger to his mouth, he whistled out a high pitched tune, signalling the rest of his unit to come out of hiding. They did so in the most spectacular way possible. By leaping off the rooftops and from high in the air they did several flips before landing on the ground in a squat in an overly dramatic manner.

The sheer awesomeness the newly appeared cheetah's were showing when they made their appearance was ruined when Nikolai let out a disgusting belch. It made the anthropomorphic animals trip on their own feet. The humans couldn't help but give Nikolai disapproving looks.

"Ok, that was disgusting." Polonsky deadpanned as he frowned disapprovingly at the Russian with crossed arms. He pulled a face and fanned the air when a disgusting scent reached his nose. "Oh-wow, that smell is even worse. It's like..."

"A breath that smells like alcohol?" Miller suggested helpfully also fanning the air in front of him.

Polonsky clicked his fingers."Yeah! Exactly that!" He exclaimed. He then turned to Nikolai and curiously asked, "Why do you drink anyway? Wouldn't it make you less combat effective?" Everyone, apart from Takeo and Dempsey and Richtofen, as they already know of the reason, looked at the drunk Russian with a degree of curiousness.

Even the cheetah's who were giving the humans wary filled looks were now looking at him expectantly.

Nikolai with lazy eyes, gazed at everyone, before shrugging his shoulder uncaringly. "I don't remember why I drink. But I've been drinking vodka ever since we were in that fucking swamp. What was it called again? Shi No nunga?"

"Shi No Numa?" Takeo corrected with flat imperiousness.

Nikolai, being who he is, completely ignored Takeo's arrogant tone. In fact, he ignored Takeo completely, causing the modern samurai narrow his eyes at him darkly.

Polonsky looked between the two a little nervously. "Was it called Shi No Numa?" He tried in Takeo's stead. To his and everyone surprise, Nikolai practically rushed up to the teenager and bear hugged him.

"Da! Thank you for reminding me American!" He exclaimed. "You are good friend for reminding me!" Polonsky let out a pained gasp when the Russian lifted him off the group while tightening his hold. It made the scene awkward, yet insanely funny.

Takeo narrowed his eyes at Nikolai again before he scoffed in a dismissive manner. He wasn't going to get himself involved in this foolishness. He would rather kill himself than to allow that to happen.

"Humans are weird..." A cheetah whispered to his friend who nodded her head in agreement with him. She had a light smile on her maw however as she found the scene in front of her amusing.

"They all have their interesting quirks though, you have to admit." She replied.

Richtofen shook his head in exasperation at Nikolai and Polonsky. Trust him to get everyone distracted. But he had to thank Nikolai for the distraction though. Now he can get a close examination of that tank without any interruptions.

Walking to the now outdated tank Richtofen ran a hand over it and frowned thoughtfully. He had seen the tank before, a long time ago, but can't remember where and when he had seen it. Thinking back in an attempt to remember he growled in annoyance when there was a blank. He can't remember the year it was. And he didn't like it. But he knew it involved Group 935, himself, and five others but cannot remember who the other five were.

It frustrated him to no end!

"So... who wants to be first to get inside that bad boy?" Dempsey asked. His poor choice of words was taken the wrong way by pretty much everyone.

Richtofen turning to the American with a smirk couldn't resist getting a jab in. "Oh? Finally admitting your sexuality to us at long last Demphsey? I vas wondering if you were a homosexual."

"Oh?! And what about you mister 'do you like my glowing green balls'?" Dempsey replied with a mocking sneer. "You've been making a whole lot of queer comments lately!" He pulled a face when he looked down at his trousers. "Kinda sick of me to ask this, but Richtofen, is that a rod in your pocket?"

Richtofen felt his eyes widen. Oh for the love of- "Nien! Let's go!" The German quickly replied and quickly climbed the tank. The awkwardness that followed afterwards was deafening.

"...I ain't goin' up there with him." Dempsey said after a minute of awkward silence. He along with everyone else took a cautious step away from the tank when Richtofen leaned over the safety railing, giving them all expectant looks.

"Vell? Are any of you going to come up?"

All the humans looked at one another for a quick moment before turning back to the German."We are all fine down here, on the ground, Richtofen. Thanks for askin' though." Dempsey replied, after seeing no one else was going to respond.

The Nazi looked disappointed for a moment. Then he shrugged and like a true sociopath that he was, he turned and walked away. Then began laughing like a deranged mad man. Understandably everyone that wasn't use to Richtofen jumped in surprise and unconsciously took another step back away from the tank.

The cheetah's were understandably startled by Richtofen's... less than sane laughter and gave the humans who were with him looks of... pity?

"You all were with him?" One of the unnamed male cheetah's stated blankly as he pointed a clawed finger at the tank.

"Not us three." Polonsky corrected as he gestured to himself, Miller and Roebuck. He then pointed to Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo and said, "They were the ones who spent most of their time with him."

The cheetah who spoke before looked at the three humans with a pitied look. "I pity you three." He said to them with closed eyes and because of this he didn't see Takeo and Dempsey shake their heads in annoyance. Nikolai however was mumbling incoherently to himself as he stared lazily up at the tank, pointedly ignoring everyone else.

A female cheetah with brown fur stepped forward and with a salute questioned her leader on their new orders.

Hunter seeing the tank magically appear, and now believing there was some higher being watching them' did one thing that was logical to him. "I want the parameters of this village searched and secured. Any apes you encounter, interrogate them for information, then terminate with extreme prejudice."

Upon the mentioning the apes the cheetah's noticeably straightened. Their moods became grim. They knew how dangerous the apes were. They brought dragon kind almost to extinction after all, and enslaved thousands of other races under their rule. The cheetah's were some of the few lucky ones that manage to avoid that fate. Unfortunately many of their minor villages had to be abandoned when the apes came in the hundreds. They were able to kill off the apes when they tried to search for their major hidden villages. They never did find them. Their hit and runner's made sure to that.

Saluting the cheetah's turned and leapt up to the rooftops where they quickly left their line of sight. Hunter, knowing they would do their job, turned to the humans and chuckled lightly when he saw them looking at the roofs with awed faces.

"Now that you've told me about this spirit able to raise and control the dead..." Hunter said bringing everyone's attention back to him. He gazed between them all one by one, mainly at Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai. "...what else is the spirit capable of?"

Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck looked pointedly at Takeo, Dempsey and Nikolai – Richtofen was still on the tank therefore no one stared at him – they were the ones with the most experience. Therefore they were the ones with the most knowledge.

Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey shared an uneasy glance before they turned back to Hunter. "Well, apart from being able to raise the dead and have them fight at her beck and call..."

After an undetermined amount of time Dempsey had finished giving Hunter everything he knew of Samantha's capabilities. Takeo and Nikolai helped in their own way by filling in the gaps. "...And that's all we know of her powers. She may have more but she hasn't shown them thus far."

Hunter stroked his chin grimly. Samantha – Dempsey had revealed the girl's name during the explaination – for reasons unknown helps the group by resupplying them with ammunition for their weapons, or have these floating glowing symbols' appear after they kill one of the walking dead that tips the balance in their favour. However the floating symbols appear once in a while so they do not appear constantly.

Then there was a mysterious box that cycles through weapons that are either weak or powerful against their undead forces. However the box is a gamble, as it randomly chooses a weapon for the one who opened it. Too add to that Samantha can 'remove' the box from it's location and place it somewhere away from them if the cycle stopped on a teddy bear. How that work's Hunter had no idea but given what he had seen so far, he felt it was better not to question about it.

Everyone else was, understandably, giving Dempsey a 'are you sure you're ok in the head?' look. They have not been through what Dempsey and the other three have, but still, it sounded completely unbelievable! Like a child had came up with it! But Samantha had the mentality of a child. Even though she was over 50,000 years old. Plus, Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck heard Samantha speak before. And they all saw the blonde haired marine pull out a camera guided missile launcher out of his ass!

Really, at this point they should expect the unexpected.

X.X.X.X

It was midnight in Warfang and the city guards consisting of both dragons and moles were currently on high alert. If they were attacked again they would be able to muster their defences a lot earlier than they were before. They were taken by surprise last time. It was, in Volteer's words, 'completely, positively, and absolutely unacceptable'. This time they had more moles patrolling on the city walls, the guard towers and the city streets. They had multiple shifts to do to last through the night. But the hours were six hours long. Long enough that the guards who were off duty could rest long enough to be rejuvenated before retaking their post.

The dragons patrolling the city from above is being led by four dragons, three of them being led by the remaining three Dragon Guardians and a fire dragoness. When Terrador began appointing dragons' to patrol the city from the skies he wanted some volunteers as there were many of them who were injured in the last battle.

Quake after witnessing what they were up against when he was with Dempsey, quickly signed up at the chance and was automatically taken under Terrador's command and armoured up. The earth dragons were the physically strongest dragons Warfang had to offer and are the city's best defenders. They were given the plaza in the centre of Warfang to patrol.

The fire dragons were being led by a ruby red scaled dragoness called Frida. While not a Dragon Guardian, the fire dragoness is of great renown, known for fiercely fighting Cynder's dark army when she was known as The Terror of the Skies with a small company of dragons and dragonesses, and actually kept them at bay for years until the Well of Souls, also known as the Mountain of Malefor, collapsed on the Night of Eternal Darkness. Being fire dragons Frida and her group were the best offensive Warfang had so they helped the moles patrol the city walls.

Volteer and the electric dragons were the second best assault group. While known for being able to use electricity, in terms of power' they were potentially as powerful as fire dragons' but were weak when it comes to the defence capabilities of the earth dragons. Because of this Volteer's group would be patrolling the streets close to Frida.

Cyril and the ice dragons were perhaps the most well balanced of the four. Utilising their ice breath, their defences are almost as strong as the earth dragons. They're also adaptable if they're going on the attack. They would be just in front of Terrador's group.

This way they would be able to spot any invaders and act accordingly before they would do any real damage.

The remaining group, apart from Quake and Spyro, that were taken captive by the apes the day before had retired to homes that were provided to them. Nearly all of them were too tired to be of much help.

Speaking of Spyro, after he was outfitted with armour, he and Sparx began to check on the city's warehouses to see how much supply of food they all had. There were a few at the market district which was near the plaza in the centre of the city. Walking down the street toward the market district, being mindful to move out of the way of the patrols, Spyro gazed around at his surroundings. Several hanging lanterns were lit on allowing the patrols and Spyro to move through the streets unhindered.

He could hear the familiar flapping of wings of his kin from above. Knowing the city was on high alert had served to settle some of the unease he had felt when Terrador told him the undead could make another attack. Morale wasn't high but it wasn't low either. Understandable, considering what they're up against.

"Everyone seems a little tense." Sparx said off handedly as he looked at the armoured moles do their hourly patrol. "You think it's because of the... undead?" He asked, pausing hesitantly near the end as he looked at his adoptive brother.

Spyro couldn't help but roll his eyes as the answer should be pretty obvious by now that Terrador told them there may be an attack in the near future. Though Sparx didn't see it as he was floating close behind his head in case he needed to hide.

"It's possible Sparx." Spyro answered anyway. "The closest thing to these things would have been the skeletal apes we fought when we were making our way to the burning lands."

Sparx shuddered at the memory. Those things were just plain creepy. Annoying as hell. But plain creepy. "Don't remind me. I still have the shudders of from just visualising them in my head." He enforced this by shuddering. Again.

The adoptive brothers finally got to the plaza and suddenly stopped in front of a building and looked up. They were finally at one of the warehouses in Warfang. Giving one another meaningful looks the dragon and dragonfly came up and entered the building, with Spyro shoving the door open with his horns as he did so.

Sparx looking around couldn't help but let out a whistle of appreciation at what he saw. Hundreds upon hundreds of neatly stacked crates that contained meat, bread, fruit and vegetables and sacks that was either full to the brim of grain and wheat. There were a few sacks that were half full and fewer that were empty.

"Not bad. The place is packed to the brim with food." Sparx mused out loudly to himself as he brought his hand up to stroke his chin. "How many warehouses did Terrador say we have check out again?"

"Three. So there's two more to go."

"And they're at the plaza too, right?"

"Yes. They're in the opposite directions from this one." Answered Spyro before he gave the room a once over one last time before he turned and head back outside of the building with Sparx following.

Trailing after Spyro to the next warehouse across the plaza opposite from the one they just exited from the glowing yellow dragonfly gazed up at the night sky. If he looked hard enough and allowed his eyes adjust to the darkness he would be able to make out the faint outlines of the patrolling dragons above. It eased his nerves somewhat. Knowing that the dragons are keeping an eye on things from where they are. Upon reaching the second warehouse Spyro approached the door. He paused, hearing movement from the inside. Narrowing his eyes a bit the purple dragon of legend leaned in, pressing the side of his head against the door to hear better. When he saw his half-brother about to open his mouth to speak, he pushed the bottom end of his tail against his mouth and shook his head before leaning back against the door.

He frowned more when he heard several movements. Along with moaning although it had no emotion behind it. Almost as if the person was... Eyes widening in realisation at what was behind the door, Spyro growled darkly before he backed away from the door.

"Err, Spyro, buddy are you alright?" Asked Sparx, understandably concerned and a little freaked out at how his adoptive brother was acting.

Spyro didn't reply. Instead once he deemed was far enough away he charged the doors with his horns being used as a battering ram. He slammed against the doors but they held strong. Growling Spyro backed up before charging in the doors again. This time the doors gave way a little and alerted the people inside.

"Sparx..." Said dragonfly paused when he opened his mouth to ask another question. He hadn't heard his brother sound so serious since he was going to go through the burning lands to get to the Dark Master. "Go and get the others. Tell them that the walking dead are in the city!"

The second the last words left his mouth Spyro charged the door again with a battle cry. The door was thrown open the moment he collided with it, knocking several zombies off their feet and on to their backs.

Glancing back to see if his brother was gone, Spyro narrowed his eyes and growled in exasperation when he saw that he had not, and was still there in the same place with a shocked look on his face.

"Sparx! Go! Now!" He roared before he was forced to roll to the side when a zombie – a human wearing a suit similar to Richtofen he realised only a faded grey – lunged at him.

That knocked Sparx out of his shock and seeing the dire state his adoptive brother was in he turned and flew to get help. Seeing his brother flying off Spyro let a small smirk pull at his lips before he frowned with seriousness and turned his focus back to the enemies that somehow infiltrated the city.

Taking a quick glance at the containments of the warehouse he noticed three things. One: more that half of the food stores were spoiled and laying on the floor and those that weren't were likely contaminated. Two: there was a Big. Fucking. Hole. In the middle of said warehouse. How no one heard that being made he'll never know. And three: among the crowd of undead are apes. Unlike the ones he saw when he was captured by them, these had sinister glowing eyes like the zombies. Difference is theirs are a dark red instead of yellow. He could see their glowing green veins showing through their fur and skin.

"What. The. Fu-" His words died in his mouth when he was forced to move when one of the altered apes leaped at him with an inhuman roar that could be heard for yards around. Spyro snorted, thinking how idiotic the apes were to give away their position so quickly.

Quickly looking around Spyro found the zombies gathering in front of him with the apes trying to direct him somewhere by taking pock shots at him. He wasn't going to take that lying down and showed them that when he bit down on the arm of one of the apes and tore off a chunk of skin when they tried to swipe at him.

The ape didn't make any reaction upon having a large chunk of his skin ripped off of his arm, like the purple dragon had been expecting. Instead the ape merely growled before taking another swipe forcing Spyro to duck underneath the swipe and lash out with his tail, wounding the ape on the chest, staggering back and spraying Spyro's face with blood. Again the ape didn't make any reaction. It was as if it couldn't feel any pain from wounds dealt to it whatsoever.

Wiping the blood from his eyes Spyro made a face and spat the chunk of skin on to the floor, spitting several more times to make sure there was no foreign substances in his mouth. He didn't know what changed the apes into what they are now and he wasn't going to take any chances if their blood was affected. Luckily for him he didn't swallow so he had nothing to worry about. Yet.

Growling in defiance Spyro inhaled through his mouth and upon feeling the familiar heat welling up in his chest he exhaled the air from his lungs. He felt the heat combine itself with oxygen making the heat become ten times hotter, before rushing up his throat and out his mouth like a jet of fire. Literally.

When they were set aflame the undead and apes merely groaned and moaned in discomfort. The ones who were up front had dulled the flames that managed to get past them. Then, several seconds later, they collapsed to the floor. Dead. They didn't move from their spot while they burned.

"_Well,"_ Spyro thought in crude humour. _"It's not like they can help being stupid."_

Halting the stream of fire Spyro realised he had an opening and quickly got out of the warehouse while he had the chance. Just in time too as an group of apes, a total of four, leapt through the flames with their hands outstretched. Spyro noted idly that their finger's had nails with sharpened end tips that resembled claws. He wasn't sure how they'd fair against a dragon's scales, nor he wasn't willing to find out.

Facing the apes to go on the offensive the purple dragon changed his flame breath to ice. He could feel the change as he switched breath attacks. The sheering heat that was raging in his throat steadily being replaced by a chilling cold that was bordering on freezing. Opening his maw Spyro froze the undead and apes as they tried to get through the door way and switched his breath again to the earth element before using it to shatter the frozen beings in front of him to pieces.

Of course this didn't deter them from trying to catch the dragon. As one the crowd of zombies and partially transformed apes rushed the doorway. Being the stupid, brainless, undead beings that they are the zombies had no sense of preservation so when Spyro hit them with his lightning element the zombies didn't flinch. Their nerves were long dead however so the pain didn't register.

The apes were the same, 'though they did flinch a little when the lightning struck their torsos. That told the purple dragon whatever had happened to them made them incredibly resilient to pain, if what him ripping off a large chunk of that apes' arm and using his tail to cut the same monkey deeply on the chest was any clue. Everyone instinctively looked up when they heard a loud roar, and found several dragons heading towards them. Snapping his head back when he heard one of the apes let out an agitated grunt, he saw a crossbow bolt had struck the ape in the chest. Where the heart is. Yet, the furry bastard was still standing!

Looking down the ape scowling before he reached up to grab the bolt, and with a firm grip yanked it out of his skin without as much as a flinch. Looking back up it gave Spyro a mocking, feral grin before its expression was replaced by one of shock when a second bolt suddenly hit him in the forehead. The ape then slumped to the ground. With a pool of blood running spreading across the ground from the apes forehead it was obvious the monkey was dead.

Seconds later several more crossbow bolts whistled through the air and struck the zombies and apes. Some had struck their heads, killing them instantly, while others had either pierced different body parts. The earth dragons, landed on the ground with a ground shaking 'thud' before they let out another roar that was greatly enhanced by their earth element, making the earth seemingly quake at the combined roar, that literally threw the zombies and apes off their feet.

Spyro helped out by launching a spiked ice-ball in the middle of a group of ferociously howling apes that had managed to get away and were approaching the doorway. The moment the ice-ball went in the middle of the approaching apes it exploded into tiny little spikes that spread in all directions, easily piercing and killing the apes and zombies around it. This was followed by several more crossbow bolts whistling through the air, killing the zombies and apes with a bolt to the head that weren't caught in the explosion of shards.

It seemed the crossbow users had learnt from before: the undead are killed easier when their shot in the head. Same goes for the apes too. This was followed up by the earth dragons using their earth element that took on a form of a rock like missile. It easily tore apart the zombies and apes inside the building and with the doorway cleared the moles moved in, firing their crossbows on any zombie or apes in the head when they were spotted. The dragons trailed inside among them.

"S-Spyro!" Said purple dragon arched a scaled eyebrow as he turned, and saw Sparx flying to him while he panted in clear exhaustion. "I-I found the, the help you wanted." The glowing dragonfly wheezed out before collapsing on Spyro's shout. "God I'm tired."

Spyro chucked good humouredly before he plucked Sparx off his snout and replaced him on his head. "I can see that." He looked at the doorway with a squinted frown. "They're getting smarter Sparx. They are digging beneath the city and I'm afraid to know where that tunnel leads."

"Indeed." Spyro turned his head around when he heard Terrador speak. While he gave Spyro a pleased smile, it was gloom."And my suspicions were partially correct. They were going to test the water's of our defence from within the city this time. And without you and Sparx patrolling in the plaza, we wouldn't have known about this until it was too late." He frowned as he gazed at the corpses littering the doorway and the inside of the warehouse. His frown deepened when he saw the ruined sacks and crates that once contained the food stores. "And with them almost destroying one of our food stores it will surely have repercussions in the near future."

"But food can be remade right?"

Terrador nodded at Sparx's question. "Indeed. With time our food can be replenished. But that could take months, and with this one having been touched by the walking dead we will have little choice but to destroy the remaining food supplies inside. The risk of being infected is too high and that is a risk I am NOT willing to take."

"Hmm, you have a good point." Sparx admitted as he tiredly as he leaned back against one of Spyro's horns with a relaxed sigh. "I mean if someone were to eat from that warehouse then there is a high chance they could get sick and eventually die, making the sickness spread and eventually killing more and more people before you would have a chance to stop it."

Spyro glanced up at Sparx on his head with unblinking eyes in shock. Terrador even had his mouth open slightly. Sparx blinked before he looked at Terrador with a raised eyebrow. Slowly the golden dragonfly became irritated at the look Terrador was giving him and said, "What? I can be smart when I want to be!", as he crossed his arms against his chest with a childish pout.

"Yeah, but, you hardly say anything smart. At all." Sparx merely blew a raspberry at Spyro in response who chuckled good naturedly.

"Master Terrador!" Both dragons and dragonfly turned to the voice to see one of the moles approaching them from the warehouse. The mole saluted respectively to the Dragon Guardian when he stopped in front of the three before standing at attention. "The warehouse is cleared, however, the remaining enemies retreated through a cave system that lies in the middle of the room. What are your orders? Should we persist or hold our ground?"

The earth dragon frowned but didn't say anything. Gazing at Spyro, who was looking up at him with expectation, Terrador motioned the purple dragon to follow him before he headed inside. Gazing at one another in awkward silence Spyro and Sparx that their species equivalent of a shrug before following the earth guardian inside.

It was as bad as Spyro figured it would be. Nearly all of the sacks of grain and crates of meat, fruit and vegetables were destroyed. Only a quarter remained and even then those would have to be destroyed in case they were contaminated. There was a lot of blood splatters on the walls, sacks, crates and the floor along with the bodies of their slain saboteurs. Terrador was standing at the edge of the massive hole, looking down it with a deep frown on his maw. He wondered how no one heard any commotion from the building while this was being made.

Just how did the enemy manage to get this far in the city without being alerted? And from past experiences, the earth guardian knew there would be more than one, and if his hunch was right then this hole would lead them to the source.

"Spyro, you said you wanted to help against these foes correct?" Said purple dragon perked up at that and nodded his head vigorously. Terrador nodded and turned fully to face the teenage dragon, bringing himself to his full imposing height. "Very well. As we can't spare anyone to see where this hole leads too, I'm entrusting you, young warrior, to go and see where this leads and report back with your findings." He paused for a moment to let this sink in Spyro's head then he continued, "If you are spotted by anyone down there that is not alive, or an ape, remove them. And if you can avoid any and all conflicts unless it is unavoidable."

Spyro nodded firmly. He knew how serious this was. While he wasn't one for pussyfooting around, he knew when to run and hide and when to stand and fight. He always did the latter when Cynder was being controlled by Malefor and did the former when Cynder was chasing after him until Ignitus appeared and saved him. Then he did the combination of the two he was searching for Cynder when she left the dragon temple a few months after he freed her from Malefor's influence.

"Great. Another adventure. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse you get sent on _another _mission that means life or death for all of us." Sparx whined in an overly dramatic fashion.

Spyro shook his head with amusement. "You don't have to come you know?" He replied as he walked to the edge of the hole.

"What and let you get lost in a middle of nowhere with no one around to keep you company?" The dragonfly looked offended at the idea. Though Spyro could tell Sparx was joking as he heard the mocking tone in his voice when he spoke. "Yeah. Like I'm just going to allow THAT to happen."

Spyro chuckled before looking down the hole. Given how big it was, it was enough for a fully grown dragon to fit in. It seemed to go on forever and he didn't know how deep it was. He looked at the sides and saw a make shift ladder stuck in the earth where he was standing.

"_Used to let the dead and the apes climb out of the tunnel it looks like."_ Spyro thought obviously to himself. He glanced at Sparx who was hovering beside him looking down the tunnel as well. _"With Sparx with me he can show the path and make sure I don't crash into any walls."_

"So... whose going in first?" Sparx asked a little reluctantly. A few seconds of silence Spyro slowly turned his head to look at the dragonfly intensely. It practically unnerved the little dragon fly a bit at the look Spyro was giving him. But it became all too clear to him that his adoptive brother wanted him to go in first. Sparx deadpanned at Spyro before he rolled his eyes and said with sarcasm,"Oh, alright, fine, I'll be the brave one out of the two of us and go in first."

Spyro rolled his eyes as Sparx flew in the tunnel and turned to Terrador who had been watching the two's antics with mild amusement. "The two of us will be back as soon as we can."

"I know you will. Be careful and may our Ancestor's guide you and keep you safe in your journey." Spyro nodded in both thanks and respect before he jumped and flipped in the tunnel after Sparx.

Flapping his wings to gain altitude and to make sure he wouldn't crash prematurely it wasn't long until he had caught up to Sparx who stopped to wait for his brother a fair distance in before he resumed moving when Spyro caught up to him.

"Took you long enough. I was beginning to wonder if you chickened out?" Sparx mockingly taunted the purple dragon with a sly grin.

Spyro, knowing what Sparx was trying to do, smirked and replied. "What and miss out on seeing you handle yourself in a fight? Never!"

The grin on Sparx grew, seeing his brother taking part in their banter. "Oh-ho-ho? Need I remind you who among the two of us is worshipped as a god by a certain llama people?" He replied before raising his head with a look of mock superiority and pride on his face.

"Well if I remember correctly it surely wasn't you they're worshipping." At Sparx's mock indignation Spyro shook his head as he chuckled in amusement. "If anything they were looking at _me_ in admiration and worship, seeing as I was the one who beat their last 'god' in a one on one fight."

"Hey, I helped too! I was the one who kept yelling out the rock golem's weak points to you." Sparx said in mock seriousness.

"Yeah... from several yards away... where you wouldn't be close enough to be dragged in." The two stared at one another with a straight face for a solid three seconds. Then they started laughing uproariously.

"You know, most of my fondest memories were of us going on adventures to save the world. I missed them."

"I did too, Sparx. I did too..." By the time their conversation and antics were done, the strange duo were already several feet underground. So far as they made several turns through the tunnel in front of them they had not encountered any enemies as of yet. However both Spyro and Sparx knew it wouldn't be long until they do run in to someone.


	22. Chapter 22

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 7

As he landed on the ground Spyro surveyed his surroundings as much as he could. Sparx hovering beside him scratched the side of his head with a confused look. Before them lay two passageways. The left side was slightly illuminated, an obvious sign that someone was there. The right side was covered in darkness and you wouldn't be able to see unless you had a light source with you.

Sparx glanced between the two passageways before turning to Spyro. "So... do we go down the path where there's light? Or the one where we won't be able to see in front of us?" He whispered questionably to his brother, giving the purple dragon an expectant look while waiting patently for an answer.

It didn't take Spyro long to make a choice. He went down the left tunnel as that was the obvious and safest choice. If there was light then chances are there is a camp sight there.

"So...you're going down the tunnel with the light?" Questioned the dragonfly. When Spyro didn't reply Sparx shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent look adding lowly, "Of course, ignore the dragonfly. His opinions don't matter in these situations." before he flew after the purple dragon.

It didn't take them long to find the source. The light was brightest when they came upon a corner and when they peeked over, the two found a crudely built camp sight with a camp-fire in the middle. Along with the camp-fire there's several torches around the camp sight lighting up its surroundings. The camp was empty which was suspicious.

He needed to know if there was anyone around and if there were if they were friendly or not. If only there was someone small around then he could go over there and scout... around... As that thought came to mind Spyro's face became expressionless before he slowly turned to look at Sparx who was staring ahead cautiously.

"So...an abandoned camp ahead with a burning camp fire. There is no way that is suspicious." Sparx rhetorically said as he nodded sagely to himself. "Yep. Nothing suspicious here. What's the plan, bro?"

Spyro arched a scaled eyebrow. "Well, I was thinking of asking you to scout ahead. Seeing as you're the smallest one here you'd be perfect for scouting out the area." The purple dragon answered as he brought his gaze back on the camp sight.

"Good point- Hey wait a minute! Why do I have to be the one!?"

Spyro looked at his brother with an 'I just told you' look. But he justified his reasons again for Sparx's benefit. After retelling the dragonfly the reason Sparx huffed in annoyance before agreeing. "Alright I'll go and scout ahead," Then his face brightened. "I'm the smallest of the both of us, and no offense to you bro, but your size and weight would alert pretty much everyone."

Spyro shot Sparx an irritated look at the jab on his height and weight. Chuckling under his breath at getting under Spyro's skin, the dragonfly flew to the camp as quickly as he could. Thanks to the light coming from the fire, the natural glow that constantly radiated off of Sparx was hidden once he was in range. So as long as he stayed out of sight, but close to the light coming off of the camp fire he was practically invisible. Flying over the tents Sparx peeked his head through each of them one by one. All of them were empty but still had contents inside such as swords, shields and crudely made bombs that he and Spyro were familiar with when they were against the apes during Cynder's reign and during the eternal night. This led Sparx to believe everyone either got up and left their camp in a hurry, abandoning everything in the process, or they went somewhere and are going to come back soon.

Frowning thoughtfully Sparx went to find anything else that would tell him and Spyro where the occupants of the camp had gone. The contents were still here so there was a high chance they would come back sooner or later. Sparx then flew up as to get a better view of his surroundings, to see if he had missed anything or overlooked in his search. He double checked every place he looked leaving no corner unseen. This time he had a reason to be paranoid as there are possible apes and walking corpses waiting in hiding for someone to pass by. The probability of Spyro ambushed unaware until they were on top of him being very high.

Minutes later Sparx went back to Spyro and told him that the camp was completely empty and there was no one around; he also told his adoptive brother to keep his guard up just in case since he could be wrong.

For once Spyro agreed with no complaints.

Moving up cautiously Spyro kept an eye on his surroundings, and when he eventually reached the middle of the camp and saw that he wasn't ambushed he lowered his guard a little.

"So, no apes, and no walking dead. Where'd they go if they're not here?" Sparx questioned rubbing his chin with a mild curious look as he surveyed his surroundings again.

Spyro gave Sparx an dragon equivalent of a shrug. "Maybe this used to be a forward outpost for those who were in the warehouse and the rest of them are up ahead?"

"If that's true then we need to keep the amount of noise we make to a minimum. Who knows how many of them there are in this place? There could be an army for all we know!"

"I know that. Which is why we're not going to engage them unless we have absolutely no choice in the matter." Spyro said patently. Giving the camp another look over Spyro shifted his gaze to the dragonfly and with a quick gesture of his head to follow, he moved further down the tunnel that thankfully had torches on the walls as a light source.

Sparx was relieved by that. Normally Spyro would face off against an army that outnumbered them 5 to 1. Sure he would win but he felt that was purely out of luck. And Spyro normally didn't have a choice in the matter either. And since he was going up against an army of apes and dead people, well, he didn't want to think of the possible outcome of that. The apes, when they were nothing more but skeletons, cursed by the Dark Master to wonder the planet for all time, they were difficult to put down for good because they just kept getting back up after they were blown to smithereens. Eventually Spyro and Cynder became so frustrated they wouldn't stay the_ fuck down_ that his adopted brother literally incinerated them until they were nothing but ashes. Then he pissed on their remains – figuratively speaking of course – before he and Cynder moved on.

Cynder found the whole thing hilarious, even if she was frustrated they wouldn't stay down. She was smiling with unhidden glee the entire time Spyro incinerated their bony asses. He was tried but satisfied afterwards. But then they had to fight more of them...yeah...lets just say Sparx knew not to bring up the skeletal apes around them otherwise he would have ended up pissing both Spyro _and _Cynder off. He'd never been so scared in his life at the destruction. He was _sure_ the landscape around them was reshaped with the amount of destruction they caused in their rampage.

As they went deeper in the tunnel the brothers began to notice the atmosphere was getting colder and colder. Even the torches when they went beside them in an attempt to get warmer didn't stay the cold. Oddly enough they never went out and Spyro knew from experience that fire's don't burn if they're in cold areas unless you have a shit ton of things to burn. He found it odd that the torches are still burning brightly through this cold. It didn't seem natural. At all.

Moving further down the two brothers noticed steam coming out of their mouth every time they breathed out; the cold was beginning to get even worse and the torches were still burning. Now Spyro began to suspect that the coldness here was not natural. Sparx like usual thought nothing of it, even going as far as to ignore the glaringly obvious burning torches that didn't seem to radiate heat anymore.

Spyro being the perspective one of the two did; he glared at the torches on both walls with suspicion. Still he moved on. They needed to know where this tunnel led them and report back to Terrador with their findings. A few minutes of walking later and the cold was beginning to affect them. Teeth clattering Sparx breathed hot air into his hands before he rubbed his arms to heat himself up. Spyro did something a little more creative: he used his flame breath to burn a unlit torch and with a source of heat warming them Sparx was more than willing to let Spyro carry it.

...What? He's a firefly. He may have arms but that doesn't mean he can hold and carry things twice his size! That's Spyro's job.

"T-this c-cold ain't n-n-natural." Sparx stammered, pressing his hands close to the fire to heat himself up.

"I kfnw. I's wred. (I know. It's weird.)" Spyro let out a muffled reply. "Thre hs gt to be an explintin for ths. (There has got to be an explanation for this.)"

"W-w-w-well let's keep on going. C-c-c-c-can't ke-e-e-ep Terrador waiting on-n-n us." Sparx stammered out as his teeth clattered loudly together.

As they went through the tunnels, the two brothers found more and more passageways in front of them the deeper they went. Whenever they went in a new one, they looked back and were relieved to see the tunnel they came out of was just the one. That made things easier when they eventually had to go back. They had to backtrack out of several tunnels they walked in when they found out the hard way it is caved in. Spyro didn't use his earth powers to remove the rubble because he didn't want to risk another cave in when he did remove it. He didn't know how stable these connection of tunnels were. That and he still had a torch in his mouth.

After wasting several more minutes backtracking out of the caved in tunnels' the two brothers went through the last one that was not caved in. To their suspicion the walls looked fresh, like it was recently disturbed.

Spyro and Sparx shared a look before continuing on cautiously. Coming out of the passage way the two found another room that had a crudely made camp in the middle. Unlike the previous one however this one was occupied. By those strangely mutated apes and the rotten corpses of the walking dead.

Frowning at the large amount of enemies Spyro set the torch in his mouth on the ground and quietly put the fire out. He didn't want them to notice him after all. Sparx the moment the dragonfly saw the corpses' and apes covered his mouth and nose when the telling smell of decay reached his nose. He almost retched in disgust at the smell as it was worse here than it was on the surface. Heck on the surface you could barely smell the decay.

Wanting to know just what they were up against Spyro slowly looked at Sparx with a unreadable look. Sparx at first didn't notice. Then he felt someone was staring at him so he turned and found his half-brother looking at him with an undecipherable look. It unnerved him to say the least.

The golden dragonfly looked at Spyro questionably, wanting to know why the purple dragon was looking at him. Seeing the look Spyro darted his eyes towards the camp-site with a meaningful look on his face. When Sparx narrowed his eyes in confusion, Spyro rolled his eyes in exasperation before he motioned his head toward the enemy camp. Sparx once again gave Spyro a confused look – making Spyro roll his eyes in silent annoyance – but looked in the direction the purple dragon motioned too, before his eyes shot open in horrifying realisation. Sparx swiftly turned to him again and began waving his arms in front of him in a negative manner.

"Oh come on Sparx! What could happen?" Whispered Spyro pleadingly.

"What could happen? What could happen!? I could get EATEN that's what could happen!" Sparx whispered out harshly as he shaked his arms comically, ignoring the fact that he was freezing cold now and was meant to be stuttering. Somehow his eyes became bloodshot as he glared at Spyro. Going out there scouting around and risk his life to know whatever Spyro wanted to know? Fuck. That. There was no way he was going to do that. "Why don't _you_ go out there and find out what you want to know!?"

"Two reasons Sparx. One: Because I'm not small. Two: I stand out like a sore paw." Spyro deadpanned. When he saw Sparx opening his mouth to refute his claim he quickly went on. "Also, I'm more of a fighter than a sneaker. You on the other hand, are perfect for this. You're small. You can get into places I can't reach or fit into. You are not easily noticeable like I am and, and, you're the god of the llama people. If there's anyone that can do this undetected, it's you."

That is right people. Spyro did the unthinkable. He went as far as to inflate Sparx's already enormous ego to get what he wanted. Something he had rarely did.

Sparx puffed out his chest at the compliments and rubbed his digits against his chest in a self-satisfied manner. "Well, when you put it that way..." Sparx said aloud to himself, stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner before he turned to Spyro and nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. Only for the llama people though. It wouldn't do if they found out about my cowardice when you needed me."

"Yes Sparx! Now go! Go and prove to yourself that you are worthy of being worshipped as a god!" Spyro exclaimed as he gestured to the occupied camp-sight in an overly dramatic manner with his wing. With Sparx being filled with enthusiasm and confidence he confidently flew in the direction of the camp. Spyro watched silently then murmured lowly, "...dumb ass." when Sparx was far enough away not to hear him.

X.X.X.X

He can do this. He is confident. He is pumped. He is eager. He. Is. A. God of the llama people! This should be a piece of cake for someone of his stature. With him being eager to prove himself that him being worshipped as a god is well placed and with Spyro' motivation him, Sparx was clueless that he had been duped into doing something he would normally be against.

When the realisation of him being duped slowly dawned on him Sparx was already in the enemy camp and was far too late in cursing Spyro's name for tricking him. So what did Sparx do? He did what Spyro wanted him to do in the first place; scout out the camp and once he got the information go back to him.

As he scouted the camp, making sure to stay out of sight and hide behind the tents and crates, he noticed there was a camp-fire in the middle of the base. Like the previous one. Unlike the one they came through to get to here there was a stakewall surrounding the camp. For someone like Sparx those palisades were useless; he was small enough to escape notice and he can just fly over the defence.

"I wonder how long this all took to dig out?" Sparx murmured in wonder. The fact there was a stakewall down here of all things shows there is enough space and height in this particular tunnel for them to make a defence. The fact there is a gap large enough for him to fly through, but small for a fully grown dragon to be unable to, goes to show just how well thought out the location of this camp was.

What was even stranger about this whole thing wasn't the camp. It wasn't the apes with the slightly glowing eyes and veins. Or the undead humans that would wonder around. It was the atmosphere. It was cold, no, not cold below freezing. He could hear the bones of the undead and apes crack in protest when they moved the joints in their limbs after they stayed in one place for too long. While it affected them for some unknown reason it didn't affect him or Spyro. It was like there was something that was keeping the cold from affecting them because he knew no one could survive in conditions such as this. Even if there was a camp fire right in the middle of the camp that somehow stayed alight despite the cold that clearly dominated the air.

After looking around to make sure no one was looking in his direction Sparx moved to a different location. It was pretty intense too. He had several close calls and had to get behind cover the moment he saw an ape or zombie about to turn around. When he took cover he used that time to look around his surroundings and see if there was anyone looking, or moving toward his position. He was patience in waiting and when he saw the opportunity to move he took it.

He took note of the camp's layout and how many zombies and apes there were. Right now he counted nearly 100 zombies and 30 apes with several more unaccounted for as there are several large tents housing them. Surveying his surroundings Sparx noticed two apes arguing with one another. Seeing an opportunity to get more information he discretely made his way over there; when he was close enough he could make out what the two apes were saying.

"...waiting here anyway? We should be taking the fight to those dammed dragons!" Ape number one growled out. This ape had leather armour covering his torso and legs. Leaving his arms completely bare. There was ice forming on the fur on his arms but the ape didn't seem to take notice.

"Patience. The Holy One wants us to test the cities defence capabilities first before attacking in full force. Besides' I heard The Holy One is looking for something that will tip the scales in her favour." Said ape number two. Instead of wearing leather like the first one, he wore chainmail that covered the entirely of his torso and arms' and the majority of his legs. He even had a helmet beneath his arm that looked it would protect his entire face from projectiles.

Sparx was alarmed at the mention of a weapon capable of turning the tides, as it reminded him of that massive golem that threatened to rip the earth apart. He had the urge to get out of there and tell Spyro what he had learnt but resisted it, knowing they weren't done talking.

The first ape looked curious at that. "A weapon? Really? Do you know what it is capable of?"

The second ape shook his head and with a shrug said, "No, unfortunately I don't. All I know from the higher ups is that it capable of wiping out armies."

"Hmm... if that's true then why haven't we learnt of this before?" The first ape asked with curiosity in his voice.

"From what I have heard the weapon was created long ago." He gave the ape in front of him a pointed look. "I heard rumours the weapon came from an era before the dragons."

"Do you know which era?"

The first ape chuckled lowly in his throat. With another shrug of his shoulders the ape crossed his arms against his chainmail covered chest and said, "Believe it or not, the weapon is said to have been created by humans when they were still around. And if that is true then the weapon is an old relic of the past."

"Truly? And how can it be used to our advantage?"

"I have no idea. No one - apart from The Holy One - knows what the weapon is capable of. Until it is found and kept away from the attention of our enemies, no one will know."

Sparx took that moment to get the hell out of there. He had to tell this to Spyro. The other's had to know too. The enemy is looking for a weapon, created by humans that is capable of wiping out armies.

X.X.X.X

Spyro was worried when he saw Sparx fly away from the camp. He looked like he had seen a ghost. What ever the dragonfly had learnt must have scared him. He felt guilty for tricking him but knowing it was for the greater good had overridden that guilt.

"What did you learn?" Spyro asked the moment Sparx was floating beside him.

The dragonfly didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he turned to his adoptive brother and with sarcasm coating his voice said without taking a breath, "Oh that there's over 100 of them in the camp and they're currently searching for a weapon that was made by the humans so long ago, that is capable of wiping out entire armies? Nothing much."

Spyro blinked once. Then twice. "What?"

"There's over 100 enemies in that camp." Sparx said quickly. He began to chuckle with an insane glint in his eyes, making Spyro worry for his sanity. "Oh and someone they're calling 'The Holy One' - you know the spirit you told me they are following a while back in Warfang - is looking for a weapon capable of wiping out armies." He began to breath heavily out of stress, and without warning flew up to Spyro's face' looking at him like he was a manic. "Can we PLEASE get out of here now!? We NEED to WARN the others about this!"

Spyro slowly, very slowly backed away from the dragonfly. When he was a comfortable distance from the clearly frightened dragonfly, the purple dragon nodded – much to Sparx's relief – and turned. Sparx really eager to get out of underground flew in front of Spyro to guide the way. Luckily neither of them were spotted as they made their way back and as the two made their way back in the direction they came from they noticed the air around them started to get warmer.

Unlike the apes and her undead minions Samantha did notice them. In fact she was aware of them the moment they both went under ground in her domain. She could have taken care of them, make the apes aware of their presence and her undead minions twice as active as they are now. But she didn't. The little girl wanted to know what they were planning to do and what their purpose is in her domain.

She could switch places in a blink of an eye. A useful thing to be able to do. It was how she managed to keep track of the survivors of her zombie outbreak, and watch them futilely fight off her armies and survive at the same time. It was amusing to say the least and she would give limited support to a group of survivors that peaked her interest. The crew that consisted four of her antagonists were reluctantly enough a group that somehow managed to keep her interested in them. She didn't know how but they did. They all either respected or hated one another. They came from four different backgrounds and had their own respect and hate for one another.

Plus the banter between them is always amusing.

It was always interesting to see events that wasn't influenced by her presence unveiling before her very eyes. It made her campaign a little more challenging.

Shaking her head of those thoughts Samantha brought her attention back to her forces. Now that her camp was discovered she had to reinforce it quickly. She would also have to punish those apes for unintentionally revealing a part of her plan to their enemies. She tutted to herself in disappointment as they should have known better than to speak out loud even if they are deep within her territory. She should have expected it though' they were apes and weren't very intelligent by human standards even if she did technically 'upgrade' them with element 115.

She won't tell them of their blunder. This foul-up was their fault for not keeping their lips zipped. She'll let them solve their own problems. She's been giving them enough help by lending them her zombies.

She brought her attention back on to the humans who had taken up residence in the village the apes had attacked. While interested as to why there were cheetah's there, it quickly wore off when she realised they weren't hostile toward them. No fun there! She arched her eyebrows in amusement when Richtofen was gleefully searching through the Mark IV tank she had sent them.

After watching the humans for a time the child willed her ghost like appearance back to the excavation sight back on Dante's Freezer. Cynder was sleeping' and ignoring the activity around her. The apes were digging through the ice and snow, trying to make their way in to the remains of the ship. The undead dragons that were there are doing their duty; patrolling the space around the excavation sight by the earth and sky. Everything, right now, was going according to plan. If this all played out like she hoped it would then Richtofen would meet his demise.

If she had to wipe out several other species to do it, then so be it. She promised her father she would kill all who are a part of Group 935 and Richtofen was the only one left. If the other humans just stopped helping him and left him to fend for himself, she would've left them alone and stop her control on the undead. But since they are helping him she doesn't have much of a choice.

They knew or had their suspicions on what Richtofen had done. Edward's companions even said she had a grudge against him! Why wouldn't they allow her to take revenge against her sworn enemy!?

As her thoughts became more and more negative she didn't realise it was beginning to have an effect on the weather around her. It was beginning to snow and the temperature beginning to drop.

Samantha however was quick to realise this and reined in her temper before it got too out of control. Because of this, instead of snowing heavily like it about to, there was only a small amount snow flakes' that wouldn't build up into snow. The second they touched the ice and snow, they either melted into the ice - somehow - or were absorbed into the snow.

Tapping her chin thoughtfully Samantha looked at the clouds above her. "Interesting. Mien feelings has a direct effect on zhe weather itself? Zhis requires testing..." She mused loudly to herself. She was alone. There was no way someone was going to overhear her unless she wanted them too.

She wasn't going to do it now. May be somewhere else far, far away from prying eyes. She didn't know what those dragons were capable of, but she knew they were dangerous. The purple one even more so. She had witness the first purple dragon utilising all the elements. She had witnessed Malefor the Dark Master become corrupt with the desire for more power, and turning against his own race using the apes and baboons to form a surprisingly effective army that brought his own kin to the brink of extinction.

Then this generations' purple dragon appeared, and threw a wrench in all his plans. Malefor then decided to be a sore loser and tried to destroy the world by summoning a giant golem when he was close to being beaten. Only for this generations' purple dragon and his friend – who was under her control as of now – to beat it, throwing another wrench in his plan for destroying dragon kind.

She was there for all of that. She didn't take part because it wasn't her problem. It wasn't her fight. Then she witnessed Dempsey being found in the remains of Der Riese, close to Warfang and the return of Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen. Then it became her fight. She sent the remains of her undead forces still at Der Riese against Dempsey at first. He got away with the help of the dragons.

She didn't send her army after him. Knowing her forces were too few back then and had to build up her forces somehow. Then Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen appeared weeks later (or was it months?) and with such ferocity that she didn't know she had sent her army against them, only for them to escape to Warfang. That was when she decided to build up her armies once more and discretely sent out several groups of zombies to find the corpses of the dragons that fell against Cynder when she was corrupt and experimented on them. Then she found the apes; rather the ones who weren't slaughtered by Spyro and Cynder when they were making their way to Malefor for their final battle and removed the curse that was placed on them.

The apes thought she was a god and started calling her 'The Holy One' when she was clearly not a god. She wasn't delusional enough to proclaim herself as a god. She was going to turn them into zombies when their usefulness ran out. She is going to do it slowly at first. Give them a false sense of security and make them believe in her prowess that made her seem like one. Then once she gave them the needed modifications to their bodies' she would remove all their intelligence and annihilate their will. With the ones underground being modified to suit her needs, a part of it had already been completed. All she had to do now was remove their willpower and intelligence and they would be nothing more but soulless monkeys. Effectively killing them in a sense without actually doing the deed.

They are still useful to her right now and until their usefulness had run out she planned on keeping them around a bit longer. Even if she was sorely tempted on removing them from play so she wouldn't have to deal with their stupidity.

But no; what she had planned involved the apes and if they died in the process? Nothing for her to worry about. She can just revive them again, but as her undead minions, and set them loose on their own brethren. She did it to her own people all those centuries ago and there was no stopping her from doing it again.

"So much planning. So little time..." Samantha sighed to herself out of sheer boredom. She closed her eyes as she began to hum a song softly to herself. It was one of her favourites, one she heard being played in Der Riese when she was sending her all against Richtofen and his allies. It was called... Beauty of Annihilation. Yes. That was it.

X.X.X.X

Cynder opened her eyes and lifted her head from the ground when she heard a soft hum sound out of nowhere. She recognised the one humming as the one the apes love to call 'The Holy One'. To her surprise the girls humming was dulling out the current song that was running for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

Getting up the dark scaled dragoness walked out of the tent and surveyed her surroundings. The apes, armed with icepicks and shovels, were beginning to make their attempt at digging through the ice and snow. The undead dragons are doing their job at guarding the camp-sight.

"And it's still night time." Cynder mused dryly to herself as she looked up toward the sky with a soft frown. Dante's Freezer was several miles away from the mainland. Far enough away from Warfang and her allies. And with her swallowing the key to get herself out of those god forsaken chains that Grim put her in, she couldn't run away with the girl knowing her every move.

She frowned even more upon remembering that accursed ape. She hadn't seen him in a while. Actually, now that she thought about it she hadn't seen him ever sense she ate that key.

"Hopefully he went off somewhere and got himself killed." She murmured darkly. She grinned sickeningly to herself as images of a dying Grim being devoured by Samantha's undead dragons filled her mind. She quickly caught herself and shook her head to cast the images aside before she began to cackle like crazy.

Samantha smirked a dark smirk as she hummed, having heard Cynder's murmuring even from where she was. The reason why Grim wasn't around was because she dealt with him a long time ago. She did it discretely of course and no one heard his screams as her zombified dragons tore him limb from limb before grouping up with the apes and Cynder. His remains were currently in the stomach of several zombified dragons. She didn't bother to raise him from the dead, as she made sure there was nothing left of him to resurrect.

She never liked Grim. He was cocky and arrogant; she knew it wouldn't be long until he had the guts to rebel against her. So she took him out before he had a chance to. She made sure her prototype undead tore out his throat so he couldn't scream. Hearing him gurgle on his own blood was music to her ears.

She blinked a few times at that trail of thought. Then her eyes widened in shock. _"Mien God, am I becoming like uncle Edward?" _She mentally questioned herself in horror. She did NOT want to be like Edward Richtofen in ANYWAY.

Cynder meanwhile went back inside the tent. It was still dark out and it would be a while until the apes managed to break through the ice. She dropped on the ground after she found her body heat, or what remained of it. Closing her eyes the dark scaled dragoness was able to quickly fall back to sleep.

X.X.X.X

It felt like hours had past but both Spyro and Sparx had eventually made it back to the surface where Terrador was waiting along with Volteer and Cyril. The warehouse was cleaner and emptier than the last time they saw it but they shrugged it off, knowing with how long they were gone they were bound to have taken away the spoiled grain and wheat.

"You have been gone for nearly four hours young ones. Were you able to learn anything down there?" Terrador asked.

Spyro and Sparx shared a look before looking up at the Earth Guardian. "We learnt a few things. One; they have two camp-sight's down there. With the first being abandoned. The second one we found down there was much bigger than the first." Spyro replied before going into detail on what they had learnt from the time they were down there.

The three remaining Guardians, as they listened, became more and more worried the more Spyro talked. When they learnt of them searching for a weapon that is capable of wiping out entire armies, they grew even more concerned. Volteer was scowling which is a feat in itself considering the type of dragon he was.

"What you have told us Spyro is grim indeed. Do you know where they are searching for this... weapon?" Cyril asked and sighed in disappointment when both Spyro and Sparx shook their heads. The ice guardian turned to look at Terrador and said, "Terrador we must be cautious from here on out. Given the news these two fellows have told us we cannot make any room for mistakes."

The earth guardian sighed in resignation."I know." He told Cyril as he looked at the ice and electric dragons tiredly. "Our forces are stretched too thin and with villages allied to us and our scouting parties still unaccounted for, all we're capable of at the moment is defending this city and any villages the closest to us."

Volteer furrowed his brows in a thoughtful gesture. "What about Dempsey and his companions? They are - technically and positively speaking of course - the only ones who have the experience on combating these undead beings. And if what we learnt from the apes is true, then they are following a being who can raise and control the dead to a small degree."

"They weren't seen in Warfang ever since we mysteriously ended up here a day ago." Terrador grumbled out with a heavy frown, bringing everyone's attention back to him once more. "And if they're not here then they may still be at that village we were investigating."

"That is if they haven't been moved somewhere like we have." Spyro had to point that out to them. He knew they couldn't just assume Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were still in the same place they last saw them. That would be foolish. "And if they have been moved, then they could be anywhere in the realms."

"And let's not forget about those undead dragons. They'll be a huge problem in the future." Sparx pointed out with a raised finger.

The Dragon Guardians, including Spyro, solemnly nodded in agreement. They couldn't remove their undead brethren from the equation, as they were most certainly going to be involved in future battles to come.

"Indeed they will be young dragonfly. This is why the city is arming itself and increasing the number of soldier's stationed within. We cannot recall our forces already outside of the city limits as they'll be at risk of being attacked by our now known enemy."

"Indeed, with the last dragon temple being destroyed in Spyro and Cynder's final battle with the Dark Master, we have no other places to retreat too." Cyril said before he frowned slightly. He sighed before sitting down on his haunches. "I'm afraid if this city falls to the enemy there will be no other place for us to take refuge."

Baring his teeth at the thought Spyro stared at the ground. Then his eyes widened when he remembered a place that was well out of the way from civilisation. The Chronicler. He has a complex that when he was trying to get in was well guarded. It took him several hours trying to find a way in, that involved him solving some complex puzzles, to him fighting several large monsters and dummies that took a lot of effort to put down.

When he relayed this to the others they looked thoughtful for a moment before they shot the idea down. When the purple dragon respectfully, with an underlying annoyance, asked to know why they couldn't go to the Chronicler, Volteer as the one with the most knowledge explained that the island the Chronicler lives on is never reported to be in the same place twice. So if Spyro were to go to the last place the island was seen, it would no longer be there.

Plus the island is always isolated and in the middle of nowhere, and there are plenty of places in the Dragon Realms that are isolated and in the middle of nowhere. Without the Chronicler to tell them where to find him, they would be wasting valuable time and resources.

Spyro reluctantly agreed to that, as he would not have been able to find the island without the help of the vision provided to him in his dreams, or the location that Volteer told him.

"So the Chronicler is out. And the remnants of the army that fought off the Dark Master's forces have to stay here, reinforce the city while preparing for any attacks simultaneously." Sparx shook his head in astonishment before looking between the three Dragon Guardians. "You guys have your work cut out for you."

Terrador nodded. "Indeed we do. I only hope that our unconventional human allies are having as much luck as we are. I must be off to gather a strike force. Having an enemy literally underneath us is something we cannot allow." With that said the earth dragon walked out of the building with Cyril in tow.

"Aren't you going with them Volteer?" Spyro asked, gazing at the electric dragon with a curious expression.

"My fellow elemental users can patrol their section of this marvellous and grandiosos city without my stupendous leadership guiding them." Volteer said very quickly, making the two before him have to strain their ears to carefully hear his sentence completely. Sparx gave Volteer a deadpan look when he finally understood what he said.

"Or maybe...maybe you just want to avoid your duties, and are using us as an excuse!" Sparx exclaimed in declaration as he pointed at the electric dragon with a wide-eyed look. A look that practically screamed 'I'm on to you!'.

Spyro looked at his brother with a gob-smacked look, while Volteer was giving Sparx a disapproving frown' with a twitching brow to go with it. It was somewhat comical to see someone like Volteer with a frown and a twitching scaled brow/

Spyro shook his head. "Or may be he is here because he wants to keep the two of us company?" He said while giving Volteer an expectant look when Sparx wasn't looking.

"Oh... Oh-yes, yes of course I was. Indeed!" Volteer exclaimed when he realised what the look Spyro was for. It was to give him an excuse and to make Sparx stop with his theories before he took them too far. "I am merely here to keep you both company! Ancestor's knows' both you and Spyro need it!"

"Uh-huh..." Sparx didn't believe him and swiftly looked at his brother. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion when Spyro was whistling innocently to himself while looking anywhere but him. He swiftly looked at Volteer who was staring down at him with a fanged smile. He slowly edged away from the electric dragon as he felt a little uncomfortable being near those long, shiny, sharp fangs. He already had been eaten once and that was an experience he wasn't willing to go through again. "Spyro what're we going to do now that we know there's a possible army waiting down below?"

"What we always do; fight when they come for us." The purple dragon answered easily. It was something he did all the time since he found out he was not a dragonfly and that he was adopted. Why would this be any different?

Meanwhile as Volteer was conversing with Spyro and Sparx, Terrador and Cyril had gathered a small group of grown dragons and had them meet in the town square in front of the warehouse they left Spyro, Sparx and Volteer in.

The group had four dragons. Frida who is the leader of the fire dragons patrolling the city, an ice dragon named Frost ironically, who is near the same age as Cyril himself but only a few years younger. Quake who wanted to bring the fight to the enemy, and lastly an electric dragon named Alec.

Terrador and Cyril were in front of the four, giving them serious looks that told them whatever they were going to say wasn't going to be pleasant and worrying.

They had no idea how right they are.

"I'm not going to sugar coat anything here; nearly four hours ago, Spyro had discovered a small force consisting of apes and undead successfully infiltrate and destroy, and possibly contaminate the food within the warehouse behind me." The Earth Guardian paused a few seconds to let his words sink in, before continuing. "After sending his dragonfly companion out for aid, he engaged the enemy. And managed to kill many of them during the clash. Thanks to Sparx we managed to gather a small force to reinforce the boy. It was there after we destroyed the infiltrators, we found a massive hole in the middle of the building."

The dragons' widened their eyes in alarm and Cyril took that moment to continue where Terrador left off. "Indeed. We then sent Spyro off into the tunnel to gather any information, while imploring him to avoid any enemy confrontation if possible, and return as quickly as possible. What he told us upon returning is... shocking."

Quake frowned, _heavily_, at how disturbed the Ice Guardian looked. His scaled somehow seemed to close colour if that was at all possible. "What did he find out?"

"He found two camps." Terrador answered with a grave frown. Which told them just how serious he was. "One of them was abandoned, although Spyro had his suspicions that the first one he encountered was an outpost used by the infiltration force we dealt with. The second one however is much larger and had over 100 enemies occupying it. He also learnt, the one leading the apes, and controlling the dead, is looking for a weapon from the _human _era that is capable of wiping out entire armies."

Frida narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But if their looking for a weapon the humans made, wouldn't it have been lost to the ages of time? Retaken by nature?"

"Naturally yes, but given this new mysterious leader of the apes is said to be a spirit of all things, capable of raising the dead it would not be surprising if it was able to find and somehow reconstruct this weapon. There's a chance that the weapon was preserved through time, waiting to be found again. It was how the human, Dempsey was found after all these years sleeping in that run down facility."

"And the place was still running with electricity. Impressive for a building that was in ruins and almost reclaimed by nature." Terrador added with hidden admiration. Cyril was barely able to discern the admiration in his voice; because he had been with Terrador, Volteer and Ignitus for years he was able to pick up traits that others would over look. And even then he was barely able to recognise it.

"What is our mission?" Frost asked getting everyone back to the reason why their here in the first place.

Terrador gave the four dragons a hard look. "Your mission everyone, is to go in the tunnel inside the warehouse behind us and wipe out all opposing forces." He explained to them. Giving each and every one of them a fierce look as they took in his words. It was a pretty big step, and Frida had not been in a major battle since the failed invasion of Warfang. "We would have our human ally accompany you in this mission, but since he is missing..."

"So we go in, kick some ass, and get back out?" Alec said aloud questioningly, not really expecting an answer from his two superiors. He smirked when both Cyril and Terrador answered by nodding their heads in acknowledgement. "Seems like fun!"

The other three nodded in agreement, although without putting as much enthusiasm into the motion of their head moving as they could.

As Terrador and Cyril were relaying the situation to the three dragons and one dragoness outside of the warehouse Spyro, Sparx and Volteer's conversation with one another had taken a rather odd turn. From talking about combating the enemy when they showed themselves, to talking about their daily lives.

Suffice to say it was Spyro and Volteer against Sparx and if anyone were there to hear them, they would have been gob smacked at how fierce the three were debating.

"I'm telling you living with my mum and dad was a LOT better than out here. At least things were peaceful back then!" Sparx protested hotly as he crossed his arms defiantly against his chest, trying desperately to sway Spyro to his way of thinking. But Spyro was proving to be stubborn when it comes to his opinions.

"I know that. But I think things have been more exciting ever since we both made our way out of the swamp." Spyro patently replied back. To him Sparx was whining and wanted to get his own way. When he couldn't he would whine again until Spyro either gave up, or he gave up. "I admit missing mum and dad, but I wouldn't trade this for anything."

"And what about the times where you almost died? Where I got EATEN! Where I thought you got yourself crushed by that bell when rescuing Terrador? What about the time when we both were captured by those scavengers?"

"I survived. I got you out before you were eaten. I was fine and I got us _both_ out of there."

"...Point."

"Besides with the fighting I've done during our adventures, from fighting Dreadwings and apes, to rock golem's, I am a pretty formidable opponent."

"Yeah. Until you get your head so far up your butt that you don't see the enemy coming up behind you until the very last moment." Sparx deadpanned at the purple dragon. Volteer was taking this all in stride, watching the two bickering with one another childishly. It reminded him of the days when he was younger, and watching over the batch of eggs in the dragon temple' before Malefor's apes attacked.

The two halted their bickering when they heard the doors open. Volteer, Spyro and Sparx turned their heads and found Terrador and Cyril walking in with four dragons following them. Spyro recognised Quake as he was the one who was with Dempsey before being told to get reinforcements, and the two gave a brief nod of respect to one another.

Alec whistled in surprise as he saw the large hole in the ground beside Spyro. "That is one big hole." He couldn't help but comment upon seeing it. Quake, Frost and Frida quietly nodded in agreement. It was one big hole.

"The enemy is down there?" Quake asked as he walked to the edge in curiosity before looking at Spyro for confirmation. When the purple dragon nodded Quake began nodding to himself with a thoughtful frown.

"It is pretty dark." Frida commented as she walked to the edge on the other side of Quake. She looked over the earth dragon to stare at Spyro, "How'd you manage to find your way through this?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Spyro gestured to Sparx. "Sparx is a natural light source." He answered as if it explained everything. It did. Sparx even now was giving off a natural glow. In the dark he is like an never ending torch.

Frida nodded in understanding as she and the others were looking at Sparx in a new light. No pun intended.

"Now that we're all here, I need to know if you four were doing anything beforehand?" Terrador asked looking at Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec with an intense look. "Because once you do this there will be no chance for you to continue whatever activities' you were doing until this is complete."

The four volunteers shared a look before looking back at the earth guardian. "Neither of us had anything to do before you got us." Alec paused for a moment, looking thoughtful before adding. "Unless you count us patrolling different sections of Warfang as 'something to do'?"

"We have nothing to do so, yeah, we're able to do this without any worry." Frida said with Frost and Quake nodding in agreement with her.

Terrador smiled a small but proud smile at the group and nodded to himself with a low but heard-able grunt. The four took that as an excuse to begin their mission and without a word, the four spread their wings and leapt into the hole one at a time.

There was a welcome silence in the room before... "How long do you think it will take them to realise they won't be able to see down there?" Randomly asked Sparx.

X.X.X.X

Dempsey frowned as he took in his surroundings. He didn't recognise anything; it seemed out of place for the most part. The best way for him to describe what he was seeing was endless space, with random floating platforms here and there. Along with giant, strange squid like creatures that just gave him the creeps.

Looking around he also realised he was also alone. And weaponless. No knife. No guns or grenades. Just like the time he was captured by the Japanese. Except he wasn't submerged in malarial water. Nor did he have a bobby pin or a metal of honour hidden somewhere in his own body. So that was a plus.

Frowning a bit Tank Dempsey cupped his hands to his mouth, "Hello? Is there anyone here?" He bellowed at the top of his lungs. Much to his confusion what he received in response was his own voice, echoing back at him. How that happened he has no idea since there is literally no walls for the noise to reflect back at him. Sighing Dempsey scratched the side of his head before lowering his arms to his side. He looked around his surroundings again before deciding to walk off in a random direction. Maybe if he started moving around in this weird place he found himself in something would happen?

When he reached the end of the floating platform that he was on, the ground began to shake. Cursing Dempsey began to stagger as the earthquake like shakes, almost made him lose his footing and he quickly backed off from the edge. He did not want to know how long he would fall down for if he were to somehow accidentally fall into that endless chasm. He blinked and arched his brows in surprise when he saw a path being formed in front of him that connected to another platform quite a distance away. However the path stopped barely halfway to the other platform.

"Huh...interesting." Mused the marine. Looking at the path cautiously he placed his right foot on the path, then the left, then the right again until he was confident enough that nothing was going to happen. It wasn't until he was a fair distance away from the platform that the path he was on began to collapse behind him. He was about to curse when he realised the collapsing paths stopped a few feet away, and out of curiosity Dempsey looked to the other side and found the path in front of him began to grow.

A theory began to develop in his head. Something that he wanted to try out. Taking another few steps forward Dempsey stopped and looked behind him and saw the path behind collapsing. Looking ahead he saw the path in front of him grow. He realised what was going on now. The more he moved the more the path behind him began to shorten, but the path in front of him began to grow.

"Very interesting..." He said aloud as he began to walk casually, as if he were going for a stroll in a park. "I wonder what else this place has in waiting for me?"

When he stepped to the platform he was being led too, Dempsey looked behind him in alarm as the path behind him collapsed the second he stepped off of it. Frowning in worry the marine scowled before looking ahead. His frown deepened when he saw a structure before him. It looked similar to one of those ancient medieval castles, only it looked like it was about to collapse in on itself. In front of it lied a pool of some kind, but it was undistinguishable from where he was. For a reason that was unknown to him, something was compelling him to approach the pool.

So he did. When he reached the pool, he quickly looked around and when he was sure no one would suddenly appear out of nowhere, he stared down and tilted his head with a curious frown, his reflection following his action. The water was a pale blue, and had a mist like aura coming out of it.

"I was wondering when you would appear, young human." Said an unknown, masculine voice in front of the marine.

Dempsey understandably taken by surprise jumped back in shocked surprise as he let out a shocked yelp. He was so focused on the pool he hadn't heard anyone approach. Such a thing like that would get him killed in a real life situation. He instinctively reached for a weapon, only to remember he was weaponless. Mentally cursing Dempsey scowled and looked ahead. He dropped his scowl and adopted a confused look as he took in the being in front of him.

Greyish blue scales. A dark blue cape hanging over his shoulders with golden armament covering most of his neck; lastly there was a large blue crystal hanging from his neck.

As Dempsey scrutinised the dragon in front of him, the dragon likewise did the same but with much more subtlety.

Short cut blonde hair with the top being slightly longer than the sides. A light green jacket with rolled up sleeves with matching pants. A dark shirt underneath said jacket, a cartridge belt over the jacket itself with a sheath for a missing knife attached to it. Shin length leather leggings with dirtied combat boots.

As the two finished examining one another, both human and dragon stared at one another unflinchingly. Then the dragon got himself comfortable by sitting on the ground and stared expectantly at the human with small amounts of amusement in his eyes. Something Dempsey had looked over.

"So..." Dempsey began at long last over several minutes of awkward silence. "...you were waiting for me?" He finished questionably.

The grey blue scaled dragon nodded. "Indeed. For a small while now. Sorry about bringing you here without any warning by the way."

Dempsey frowned in confusion. "What do you mean...?" He gasped clutching his head. Recent memories suddenly flowed into his head. Him discussing the threat of the apes and undead with Hunter of Avalar and the others and what their next plan of action should be. Apart from the complete obvious. Then the memory of him feeling dizzy and unsteady reached the forefront of his mind, and then he collapsed and ended up here. "God-damn it! The hell was that?!"

The dragon grinned a little with amusement at Dempsey's antics. "That would have been the delayed memory influx: meaning you just got your recent memories." He explained as he lay down on the ground.

"Does that happen every time in this place?!"

The dragon, with a small chuckle, shook his head negatively. "No. Hopefully, this will be the first and last time for you."

"Oh..." Dempsey stared at the dragon in awkward silence with the dragon staring back at him with an almost amused smile pulling at his maw. "So...what exactly am I doing here?"

"Oh usually there should be some kind of big revelation' that concerns your quest to stop these undead beings from returning to bring all life to an end once more and bringing information about a weapon that is capable of turning armies into the undead in a blink of an eye." The dragon said a little too casually as if he didn't say anything that threatened all of life as they knew it.

"Wait, what?" Was Dempsey's smart reply. A revelation concerning his quest to stop the undead from returning? A weapon capable of turning living beings into mindless flesh eating zombies?! "What the hell do you mean there's a weapon capable of turning entire armies into the living dead?!"

The dragon suddenly turned serious and began looking at Dempsey with great intensity. Something that surprised the hell out of him. "Samantha, the spirit that is controlling the undead, is searching for a weapon capable of turning living into the dead." The dragon warned, his tone telling Dempsey that he was not joking around and that he was completely and utterly serious about what he was saying. "Where she is looking for the weapon is in Dante's Freezer. An island that is entirely covered in ice and snow and well out of the way from the mainland."

Dempsey frowned as he blinked. "That's... pretty informative. How do you know all this? What's your angle?" He demanded, giving the grey/blue scaled dragon a suspicious look.

"I am known as the Chronicler." The dragon, now named Chronicler said. "My job is to record all events throughout time. Tragic or not. Past or future. As for my angle? My species were nearly brought to extinction not too long ago. I am merely giving you a hint on where you can go to prevent this from happening." The Chronicler rose to his feet and approached the pool before staring intently at it. Dempsey followed his gaze, and to his surprise he began to see an image forming on the waters surface. "For if Samantha discovers this weapon, then not even you and your allies will be able to turn the tide against the undead, and eventually all life will be eradicated." As the Chronicler spoke, the images began to change rapidly with every word coming out of his mouth. Showing the mainland becoming overrun with zombified dragons, with them infecting and devouring everything in their path. To Warfang becoming invaded and the Dragon Guardians falling before the onslaught.

Dempsey stared at the pool with his mouth agape. He was shocked beyond all words. Was this a possible outcome of the future if they didn't stop the girl in time? If it was how were they going to stop it!?

"Take this knowledge and act on it. Prevent this hollow future from happening."

Dempsey looked up from the pool and opened his mouth to reply. But before he could get a word out he was forced to cover his eyes as a blinding flash of light appeared out of nowhere, illuminating both him and the Chronicler.

"Prevent this hollow future from happening!" Was the last thing he heard before the light consumed his entire being.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Dear GOD this took a while. Still it was enjoyable. And was totally not a chore that it was the last several times before I shelved it. _

_And this chapter is almost Spyro centric! Unthinkable?! But totally part of the plot. I had to keep those pesky plot holes from occurring, or try to avoid making too many of them as humanly possible. Since I know how many of you will complain of me not explaining "how they came to be!" or "how did an entire army of undead spawn out of nowhere and began killing everyone they see?" so I came up with this. _

_The weapon Samantha is looking for in Dante's Freezer is actually one of the Wonder Weapons you can get in Call of the Dead, but instead of it being able to do what it does in that map (not telling you cause of spoiler's but if you have played the map, and gotten the weapon, then you would know what I'm talking about) imagine what would happen if it was reversed. Hell would literally break loose if it was reversed enginnered to do_ _**THAT** and to take on entire armies instead of a single individual, everyone would be fucked. I'd kid you not. _

_This author's notes has gone on long enough, Spyash2 Out!_


	23. Chapter 23

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 8

When Dempsey opened his eyes the first thing his eyes met was the roof of the room he was in. That wasn't really surprising to him. The next thing he noticed was the drunken slurs of Nikolai who - when he turned his head to where the noise was coming from – was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against a wall with his head resting against his legs. Looking around the marine found that he was inside a rather spacious room. There were a few makeshift beds on the floor that were made entirely out of straw, and a table he couldn't see atop of. Looking at himself Dempsey found that he too was in a straw bed and it was rather comfortable too. It is surprisingly warm.

With a grunt Dempsey leaned up so he was sitting in the straw bed and had a deep frown on his face at what the Chronicler had just told him.

Samantha was looking for a weapon in a location that was fair far out of the mainland where they are. Normally he wouldn't be too concerned for the girl. He was confident enough that he and the others were more than enough to take on her hordes. However the weapon the insane little brat of a girl was looking for is apparently capable of wiping out armies and if she found it then anyone who was still alive and kicking are pretty much screwed.

But when they beat back the little girl's dog, Fluffy, Samantha practically told them she was searching for a weapon. At the time he thought she was bluffing and was trying to get them worried. But what the Chronicler just said confirmed it. Samantha is looking for a weapon to use against them, and he knew the name of the place where she was searching.

Dante's Freezer. An island that was covered entirely in ice and snow and from what he gathered from the little detail he got from that Chronicler dragon, he suspected it is almost incapable of supporting life. He had no idea where the place was either, as he had been given no directions.

The only hint he was given that it was far away from the mainland, and that meant it was another continent. He wasn't entirely fond of cold places. Because of what he was wearing there was no way he was prepared for the cold.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with an irritated scowl. He hoped Hunter was still around, seeing the cheetah and his group was the only one who could possibly know where this place was. With a strained grunt Dempsey stood up on his feet and stretched the kinks out of his limbs before looking towards Nikolai.

He had his weapons with him still. His AK74u lay in arms reach beside him. Dempsey couldn't help but shake his head in dismay at the sorry sight though. What if someone managed to sneak in? Nikolai wouldn't notice the intruder until it was too late. Still he knew better than to wake up a sleeping drunk. They tend to...get violent when forced awake.

Tearing his eyes away from the sleeping Russian Dempsey looked himself over again now that he wasn't lying or sitting on the straw bed. Frowning when he saw he was weaponless Dempsey surveyed the room again and found his CZ-72 on the table. He walked over to the table, his footsteps echoing through the room, took the side-arm off the table and put it in its holster before gazing once more at Nikolai.

He sighed in reluctance at what he was going to do. Common sense told him to leave Nikolai alone and let him sleep. But he needed to know where everyone else was and the closest person was Nikolai himself.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling Dempsey walked over to Nikolai, leaned down and shook his shoulder. What happened next was extremely painful, yet comedic. Nikolai, reasonably startled from his slumber instinctively lashed out with his fist, yelling and punched Dempsey in his nut sack. Screaming in surprised pain, Dempsey went cross-eyed and fell to the ground on his side cursing at Nikolai.

"Oh shit! What did I do!?" Nikolai, now fully awake, exclaimed in a panic when he saw Dempsey lying on the ground on his side.

Groaning in pain Dempsey leaned his head up and gave the now awake Russian the most hate filled glare he could. "You. Punched. Me. In the nuts." He slowly growled out. His eyes showing pain, glared at Nikolai with bared teeth. He then whined and let his head drop as he curled himself up, as if it would ease the pain he could feel growing in between his legs. "Note to self: get Richtofen to do it next time." He mumbled out loud to himself, not caring if Nikolai could hear him.

Just then the door shot open. Dempsey leaned his head up to see who opened the door while Nikolai turned. It was Frank Woods and Alex Mason; they had their M-16's out and at the ready, before they lowered them when nothing was happening, and stared at the two bewilderedly for a moment.

Seeing Woods was opening his mouth to ask what happened, Dempsey interrupted him before the Sergeant could get a word out. "Don't. Say a word." He growled out before letting his head fall back down and curled up in to himself some more.

Blinking both Woods and Mason gazed at Nikolai for an explanation. In response Nikolai shrugged and answered with a painfully casual; "He startled me from sleep, I decked him in groin."

This had both of them wince in sympathy. Having a man's junk punched is a painful experience. Something that no man should EVER experience.

"Fuck you, Nikolai." Was the weak response from Dempsey.

"I don't swing that way." Was the brilliant, dismissal reply from Nikolai.

Mason and Woods shared a look and shrugged at each other helplessly. They did say this was a common thing between them, and they had to admit this was pretty funny in a way. As long as it didn't happen to them of course. Walking over Mason and Woods helped Dempsey to his feet and put his arms over their shoulders as he needed help to walk and helped him out of the room when he told the two that he had something to tell everyone else that could change the course of this fight their having with the apes and their leader.

While it wasn't a serious injury they both knew, instinctual of course, that walking after being punched in the testes was a difficult thing to do. So without protesting - apart from Dempsey who let out a pained grunt every time he took a step forward – the two helped the blonde haired marine out of the room with Nikolai following, with his AK74u resting against his left shoulder.

When the four went out of the room Dempsey found his fellow humans and Hunter of Avalar and his group of cheetah's gathered around a table, with a map of in the middle of it staring at him with questioning gazes. They all heard the commotion from inside the room and when they saw Dempsey limping they were curious as to why Mason and Woods are helping him walk.

Dempsey merely jerked his head to Nikolai upon seeing the looks they were giving him, before glaring darkly at said Russian for the unnecessary punch to the nuts who merely ignored him, much to Dempsey's ire. Takeo and Richtofen looked between the two for a moment, then looked at one another before shrugging their shoulders and dismissing it entirely. To them this was a common thing.

"Are you alright, human?" Hunter asked. He gave Dempsey a frown of concern when Dempsey casually waved his question off, before he grimaced when he tried walking on his own when he told Woods and Mason to let go.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Dempsey replied as he winced with every limp he took to the table with Nikolai, Woods and Mason trailing behind him. "What did I miss when I was out?" He questioned, glancing between everyone with curiosity once he reached the table.

"Nothing much. We're just learning the lays of the land around us and where we can find the material we need to fortify this place." Polonsky answered as he turned to look at the map with a deep frown.

Frowning Dempsey followed his gaze and stared at the map and found there were several continents on it. Each of them were named too and the continent he was told Samantha was searching for a weapon was on there as well.

"_That's rather convenient."_ Dempsey mentally mused to himself. _"Who knew there was a map of all things that told me the location where Samantha is looking for this weapon?"_ He sighed lightly, stroking his chin; he needed to go there and if possible destroy this weapon before Samantha can get her grubby little hands on it.

"I have a question for you, Hunter right?" At the nod from said cheetah, Dempsey continued asking; "I'm wondering if you have ever heard of a dragon who calls himself 'The Chronicler"? With how wide your eyes went I'm guessing you HAVE heard of him then?" The marine finished when Hunter stared at him with surprised eyes.

"He is a legend in the realms. Said to be one of the oldest dragons in existence and who's been in solitude for more than a millennia! How do you know of him?"

"Honestly? I just had a conversation with him while I was knocked out."

"Ah-ha! So zhat is vhy you suddenly fainted vithout any varning vhat so ever!" Richtofen exclaimed with glee in his voice as he pointed at Dempsey with a victorious, maniacal expression. It mildly disturbed those who didn't know of Richtofen's... less than stable personality.

Ignoring the madman, Hunter gave Dempsey a hard look and said; "He wouldn't have contacted just about anyone unless the situation is dire. He did the same thing to Spyro three years ago and from what I heard, gave him a vision of his island." His tone told everyone in the room how serious he was about this. Hunter allowed his words to sink in the minds of everyone in the room for a moment. "What did he say?"

"Nothin' good." Dempsey replied with a grim look. "From what the Chronicler told me, there's a weapon somewhere in Dante's Freezer that can tip the scales in the favour of our enemies. I've seen what would happen if Samantha manages to find it: everyone dies and are turned into zombies."

"Who's Samantha?" Weaver asked, unknowingly asking the question that those who were not in the loop had running in their heads. They were all there when Dempsey told hunter about the spirit. But the marine never told them her name. Only that she was an insane spirit that is hell bent on wiping out all life on the planet.

Realising this Dempsey stared at Weaver and said; "Samantha is the spirit who the apes think is their god."

Everyone looked grim at that. "If that's the case then we need to get there before it's too late!" Hudson declared, leaning on the table as he glared hard at the map as if it would solve all the questions he had running in his head.

"We don't exactly have a method of transport you know." Woods pointed out dryly. He tapped his fingers on the map and said, "It's too far away from the mainland, we'll need a boat that can carry all of us together and by the time we commandeer one and get there it may be already too late to do anything."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing though!" Polonsky exclaimed rather firmly with Miller nodding in agreement. "We seen what those things can do, hell he-" Polonsky pointed at Dempsey. "-had to use a fuckin' rocket launcher against a dead dragon of all things to kill it because of how tough it was. Then there was a dog that seemed to have come from hell itself that literally absorbed a lot of our bullets before it was injured enough to be forced away!"

"They even have army behind them." Nikolai slurred. "Me, Dempsey, Takeo and Richtofen fought zombies in several places from Germany to Mother Russia. We eventually retreated every time but killed many hellpigs as possible."

"I'm still surprised how long we've managed to survive because of that." Dempsey couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief as he said that. He had no idea how they lived through all that, when, by all rights they should've been killed in action. Hell the only reason he and the others are alive right now was because they ran away when they completed their objectives.

Hudson however saw a gap in all of this. If the zombies were in several countries then the entire world would have known by then and would have done something about it. All military 'round the world would have retaliated the moment information about an unknown outbreak got to them and he was quick to relay this to the others.

"Perhaps it was covered up?" Weaver suggested trying to make sense of it.

"I don't think so." Dempsey shook his head negatively. For some reason unknown to him, Tank just _knew_ that wasn't the case. "If the Kraut's were hiding something then people would have gotten suspicious. Teams would have been sent in to discover as much information as they could." No one noticed how Richtofen tensed a little at Dempsey's words. As the only one of the four who truly knew what was going on, the doctor of course remembered kidnapping people from several different countries to be test subjects.

Dempsey was sent to extract Peter Macain, a spy within Group 935's ranks' when his cover within the organization was compromised. He failed of course as Peter wasn't at the location he was said to be stationed. Everyone excluding Dempsey, was killed in action, while Dempsey was missing in action. He was of course found later and was taken to Der Riese to become a test subject for his super solider experimentation.

Apart from the three gathering a few hints of information here and there that give them their suspicions about him, including how Samantha declared killed them and was hell bent on getting vengeance on him, the rest is history.

"That's right," Mason had a look of realiszation as if something clicked in his head. "I remember Reznov telling me in Vorkuta that Nazi's were researching and developing top secret weapons to help them win the war. One of them was Nova 6; a chemical weapon engineered to quickly and painfully destroy the human body from the inside."

The ones who were not part of the 1950s were surprised and downright shocked at hearing such a weapon. If that weapon ends up in the wrong hands... who ever had it could wipe out entire countries! Even Richtofen was surprised. While Group 935 was a research organization their overall objective is to improve the human condition. It is even in their motto.

However when the Second World War began, their objective had changed slightly' from trying to improve the condition of the human body to developing super weapons that would make the Nazi Party dependent on them or put them in a position that would make them valuable enough not to kill them after the war was over.

Thanks to Richtofen however that didn't happen. Group 935 is currently defunct, nearly all members of the organization is either dead or in hiding. Although where they are right now defunct is most certainly the right status to put the organization under.

"If what you said is true then any and all information would be put under the highest security." Mason said. "None of us have the highest clearance to get that kind of information."

"The only ones I can think of who have the highest clearance in the government, would be the President of the United States and his Secretary of defence." Hudson added. He rubbed his chin and shook his head. They were getting distracted; they needed to get back to the subject that Dempsey warned them about. "As much as I hate to say this; but do you have any idea what these apes are looking for?" He asked staring at Richtofen with critical, analysing eyes.

Richtofen, frowned. He didn't want to tell anyone about what he knew. But he knew if he didn't tell them anything then his unconventional allies would get even more suspicious of him. They knew he knows more than he was letting on. They knew he had a direct involvement in the creation of the zombies, and that he had created a few super weapons in his time in Group 935. If he told them he didn't know anything then they might call him out on it, as they had seen some of the super weapons at work before their very eyes.

But there were things that not even he knew. Such as the Thunder Gun that Doctor. Maxis had made in secret. With those thoughts in mind Richtofen decided to give them something to satisfy them. However, before he could say anything Dempsey opened his mouth and put in his opinion on the matter; "He should know. He is one of the fucker's that had some involvement in making the undead and super weapons after all." and with those words out, everyone was looking at Richtofen with scrutiny. The cheetah's were looking at Richtofen with outright contempt who shook it off, having seen worse looks being given by his own superiors and subordinates.

Frank Woods, Alex Mason, Jason Hudson and Gregory Weaver however were outright glaring at Richtofen now. As if they were daring him to deny any and all information of him knowing any weapons of the sort. Game changer weapons had to be captured for the benefit of ones country or destroyed so it cannot be used. The one that Dempsey described had to be destroyed at all costs.

Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey were all staring at Edward wondering what lies he will spout to get himself out of trouble and get any suspicion off of him.

Growling in irritation Richtofen pinched the bridge of his nose before leaning on the table. "Demphsey is right. I vas one who's responsible for creating zhe undead. However!" He glared with such ferocity at those who were about to open their mouths they froze. "There are some things zhat even I don't know of. As I remember Doctor. Maxis was a secretive person, not even I knew what he had been developing through the war and most of them were rumours zhat were never proved."

"What about that gun we found in Germany? The Thunder Gun?" Dempsey questioned.

"Zhat veapon vas one of zhe rumours zhat vas never proven. However, vhen ve came back to Germany it vas rediscovered."

"Alright. So what about this weapon the Chronicler was talking about? Was there a weapon capable of wiping out armies?"

Richtofen negatively shook his head at the question. "Nien. Zhere vas no such veapon in development." He replied truthfully. Everyone scowled in disappointment at that. Richtofen then narrowed his eyes in thought however after a moment of thinking. What came to him was a long shot but it was the best lead he had. "However, zhere vas a rumour of a weapon in development to use against zhe undead incase they went out of control. In theory it is capable of curing any one who vas infected and bringing those who have already turned back to life."

The room was filled with stunned silence. It was eventually broken by Dempsey; "A weapon capable of bringing the dead back to life?"

"Ya' it is exactly as I said. I have no idea how such a thing is possible. But if it vas completed then in theory Samantha can reverse engineer the weapon to make it effective against living organisms. Killing anyone who comes in contact with it."

Dempsey narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "And with how fast the zombies spread..."

"It may take only a few to spread the infection to hundreds." Takeo finished, also looking thoughtful.

"It has to be that." Dempsey declared confidently. "It has to be. A weapon like that can wipe out armies without warning. Shoot it at a group of people and turn them into zombies and then let them go and spread their decease. No one would see it coming."

"Ok, we have a possible lead from the German. Now all we need now is a way to get to that place." Woods said tapping at the ice and snow covered island on the map. "Having our tank outside brought with us would increase our odds of success, but without a way to transport it and ourselves across the sea it's looking unlikely."

"Maybe the dragons can transport us?" Dempsey suggested to the S.O.G agent. It was a sound idea to him as they could fly and cover a lot of ground and they could carry a lot of weight. While he is confident that the dragons could be able to carry him and several others, he wasn't sure they'd be able to carry a tank. "They're fast when flying and can decrease the amount of time we'd all waste by looking for a boat."

"Problem right there Dempsey, is that dragons are gone. Poof. Vanished. We have no idea where they are! Even then we would be wasting time searching for them." Nikolai retorted, metaphorically kicking the suggestion in the ass and tossing it to the kerb.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas, Nikolai!"

"This Russian has no need too! My brain is royally fucked up to make suggestions and ideas!" In other words Nikolai basically just told everyone that he was an idiot and couldn't make a decent plan if his life depended on it.

Hunter and his cheetah's stared in bewilderment at the bickering humans as they argued back and forth. Frowning in thought Hunter rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes, suddenly looking comprehensive he stared at the map intensely with analysing eyes. It was a long time ago, way before Cynder rose to power as Malefor's right hand, he remembered overhearing his father – spirits guide his soul - make mention of a tunnel that went underneath the sea that led to Dante's Freezer.

If he remembers correctly...the tunnel would be somewhere near the border of Avalar. Overlooking the sea. Back then before the apes began to enslave everyone the cheetah's inhabiting the Avalar valley had used it as a method of transport, using them to travel great distances while avoiding any and all obstacles that would slow down their journeys.

"You may not need to travel across the sea." Hunter informed them bringing all conversation and arguments in the room to an abrupt halt. When they all stared at him questionably Hunter brought his gaze down at the map. "If my memory serves there's a tunnel that goes under the sea. Allowing travellers to get to Dante's Freezer without having to encounter obstacles that would force you to double back or delay your progress." As he said this Hunter pointed a claw at a hillside that had an outline of an underground tunnel.

"Promising. Very promising." Takeo murmured aloud, leaning on the table to get a better look at the map. He looked up at Hunter and asked, "How long does one take to travel to this tunnel?" His grammar, and the pronunciation of his L's were getting a lot better now.

"If we left right this moment? We should be there by the early rise providing we don't have any interruptions."

"And if we were to wait until morning?" Hudson asked.

"Then you would get there by the late afternoon."

"Well considering that the eight of us," Dempsey pointed at Polonsky, Roebuck, Miller, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen one after the other as he spoke. "had taken this village from those apes we've burnt in the centre of the village, and just recently fought off a retaliation attack, a little over an hour before you four" He pointed at the Cold War era soldier's. "got here. I think we've all earned the right to rest for a while."

The eight Dempsey mentioned mildly sounded out their agreement. Having to run from Fluffy and climb up the roof of one of the buildings had taken the energy out of them. When everyone settled down Dempsey gazed at Hunter and asked, "Is the sun still down?"

The cheetah nodded in confirmation. "Only an hour had passed since you had spoken to the Chronicler."

"Which means we all have at least 6 to 7 hours of rest before we can all head to the frozen continent." Dempsey stated, nodding mildly to himself in thought. "Alright. We can all get some rest and wake up at 0700 hours. We'll have six hours of rest, and then we can head out."

"What about the village?" Roebuck asked crossing his arms against his chest with a frown on his scarred face. "We can't just leave it unattended."

Dempsey frowned at that. "Good point. We can't leave this place unattended." He looked at everyone at the table with a look of deep thought. He knew what Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen are capable of. He fought by their side against the undead hordes' for as long as he could remember. Polonsky, Roebuck and Miller on the other hand, while they weren't together that long were capable in their own right.

Woods, Mason, Weaver and Hudson on the other hand...he didn't know anything about them. They were apart of a military group that much he knew. Studies and Observations group, S.O.G for short, is a military branch he just recently heard of. He has no idea what their specialization is and this is a pretty important mission that can have no setbacks otherwise Samantha would be aware they knew of her excavation site.

"...What?" Woods asked, frowning deeply when he saw Dempsey's hard stare on them.

"...How do the S.O.G fight? Conventionally or Unconventionally?"

"The S.O.G fight unconventionally." Hudson answered truthfully getting alarmed looks from Weaver, Mason and Woods. He ignored them as he knew what he was doing. The question that was asked didn't ask for them to reveal any classified information, therefore he answered truthfully.

"Unconventionally, eh?" Dempsey mused. He gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before bringing his gaze back on them. "Alright. Tomorrow, you four along with Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck are going to head out and disrupt the dig sight."

"What? Why?"

"Because I saw the way you guys would look at the doctor here. Something tells me if you were to work with the group I'm with, we'll come to blows." Dempsey answered to Woods' question who had to concede to that. Neither of them liked the Nazi's for what they did and neither of them would bat an eye if they just shot him in the back of his head if he wasn't looking.

With Richtofen revealing to them that he is one of the people who caused the dead to come back to life, well, lets just say the outcome would not be pretty if they managed to get him when he was alone.

"Alright." Woods agreed with a heavy sigh. "You are going to guide the seven of us to this under ground tunnel, right?" The bandanna wearing agent questioned as he looked at Hunter. When the cheetah gave a nod in response, Woods nodded his head and said, "Right. We'll rest until morning then."

With everyone knowing what they're going to do once the sun goes up, and with everyone agreeing with the laid out plan they all went to get some shut eye. Knowing that come morning they'll have a mission that will determine the outcome of future battles.

If they succeed in finding and destroying this weapon Samantha is trying to recover, they throw a major wrench in her plans to create her undead armies. If they fail...Samantha will have a weapon in her possession that will enable her to make entire armies on the spot. No pressure.

X.X.X.X.X

Quake didn't like this. The tunnel he and the others were flying through was too dark and it can easily hide anyone from their eyes. They had little light in there so they had to wait until their eyes adjusted to the dark for them to see. Even then that didn't do much to let them see in the dark. He of course knew better than to voice his displeasure as it could bring them unnecessary attention.

They eventually came across the abandoned outpost that Spyro mentioned and after they landed on the floors surface they went to see and confirm it was abandoned. After they made sure no one was around, the four dragons continued on foot. Like Spyro and Sparx the more they went down the tunnel the colder it became. The torches on the walls did absolutely nothing to halt the cold.

It did not affect Frost in the slightest; being an ice dragon the chillness that the tunnel was producing was ineffective. If it was boiling hot however that would have done the trick as ice was weak to fire.

They pressed on however. Undeterred. Following the foot tracks left behind by Spyro they were able to make their way through the passageways that Spyro and Sparx went through. Thanks to Spyro's plan to have Sparx scout out ahead, the dragons who were following (literally) in the purple dragon's footsteps they were not as confused as to why there was only one set of foot tracks leading into one of the passageways. They obviously came to the same conclusion that Spyro had thought ahead of time and that helped them immensely.

So after continuing following Spyro's trail the four dragons quickly came to a stop. The base in front of them was...small in their eyes to say the least. Knowing it was large enough to house a small sized army however, the four glanced at one another before nodding their heads simultaneously.

Facing the camp Quake inhaled through his nose and opened his mouth. A small dark green/brownish light began to materialise in the back of his throat before it began to solidify into a small stone that began to float out of his mouth and hover in front of his gaping maw. Then it began to grow until it became the size of a large boulder.

Then with a loud roar that sounded akin to a hundred bears, the formed bolder suddenly shot forward quicker than the eye could see and went up in a rocky explosion upon impact! Rocky shrapnel embedded themselves in several apes and zombies. Killing several and wound many more within seconds.

Frida, Frost and Alec all charged in simultaneously as Quake began to form another boulder to bombard them with. The counter-attack had begun.

X.X.X.X.X

Samantha was aware of what was happening beneath the surface of Warfang. And she didn't care about it. Why should she care about something that was their fault to begin with? If they did something wrong then let them deal with the consequences of their mistake. I mean sure she would lose an advanced foothold in the mainland, but once she rediscovers V-R11 in what remains of Siberia that wouldn't matter.

She would have a weapon that is capable of wiping out entire armies at her disposal! Sure she would have to re-engineer it to her specifications to get that to happen, but she can easily do that. One does not simply learn nothing in the past one million years after all.

Still looking down at the ice and snow covered island, she couldn't help but think she had forgotten something very important. She can't remember what though. It escapes her. Shrugging Samantha pushes it to the back of her mind. She doesn't need to worry about it now. It'll come to her sooner than later.

Bringing her attention to the slumbering dragon in the main tent below, Samantha couldn't help but be smug thinking how genius it was in getting Cynder to eat that key. Giving her the ultimatum of getting the chain off her or be stuck with it on it didn't seem that evil.

But what Samantha purposely forgot to tell the dark scaled dragoness was that the key was imbued with element 115. So the second the key dissolved inside her mouth, she could completely influence the dragon if she wanted too. So when Cynder tried to escape when no one was looking, she took 'direct control' and immobilised her, forcing her to go back to camp before they headed off to Dante's Freezer.

She was pissed when that happened. Since then Cynder had made no other attempts to escape. However Samantha wouldn't put it past her in thinking Cynder would not make another escape attempt when she wasn't looking.

Apart from influencing an individual from afar, if she wanted too she could implant some thoughts in Cynder's head that she normally wouldn't think of. Making it seem it was Cynder herself who was thinking of it instead of her implanting them inside her head.

If she wanted to she can communicate with her subjects directly by talking in their heads. This only came to those who were exposed to element 115 however, and as far as she knew before Cynder eat the key, she was not exposed to element 115 whatsoever.

She eventually came to a simple explanation to this mystery. So a little back story is needed. During the thousands upon thousands of years that passed, the landscape of the planet had somehow changed drastically. Landmasses had changed 'parts of the earth had began to act against gravity and began to float several thousand feet into the air. The sea levels began to change as well. Water levels rose, flooding several islands and bringing under the sea. New islands and countries began to form as volcano's erupted across the world and this eventually became the world as it is known today.

Through all of these changes many animals had perished. However many more had manage to survive and evolve. Lizards' evolved into intelligent, speaking dragons that can manipulate the elements to a degree. Cheetah's evolved even further, evolving to the point where they're able to walk on two legs. Moles' became the best smiths throughout the entire dragon realms with Warfang being their crown achievement to honour their alliance with the dragons.

Suffice to say Samantha is currently the oldest living being on the planet. The Chronicler as he calls himself has never been one dragon. There has always been a new Chronicler every 1000 years, and since the last Chronicler had passed on, a new Chronicler took his place. One of the Dragon Guardians' who sacrificed himself getting both Spyro and Cynder to the other side of the burning lands.

But back to the point; when Cynder was taken from the dragon temple when she was still an egg, she was taken to the Mountain of Malefor. This unknowingly to her had a large stash of element 115 hidden deep, deep underground. So when the apes and their master were twisting her to their own ends, by placing her inside a deep pit that didn't seem to end she suspected Cynder must've come in contact with element 115 during that time. She didn't know of it at that time, but when Spyro seek' out Ignitus Samantha began to look closely at the Mountain of Malefor, and she low and behold, she found a hidden cache of element 115 several thousand feet under the mountain.

She didn't do anything of course. The main reason being her enemies were long gone. Plus Malefor was still around and she was certain he would notice someone trying to influence Cynder. Months later after Malefor's defeat...Der Riese was found and among the ruins they found a still alive Tank Dempsey.

So in a way Tank Dempsey being recovered is the main cause of this. Seeing Dempsey alive meant Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were alive as well. And them being alive meant she still had to kill them. So from there she had to work on getting a new army.

Recruiting the apes was a start. Experimenting on the dead dragons to bring them back to life was another achievement she had in her preparation. Taking out several villages was another step in her plan and removing the scouts Warfang sent to investigate was just a bonus.

It meant more minions for her.

After that finding the V-R11 will be the next step in her plan. Once she got her hands on the Wonder Weapon she'll use it on all of the inhabitance of Dante's Freezer. Use it to kill everyone and bring them under her influence and expand her army even further and then she would spread her influence across the mainland. No one would be able to stop her. Not the Dragon Guardians. Not the Purple Dragon of Legend. Not Tank Dempsey or his fellow humans. No one.

But then more and more humans began appearing out of the blue. First those marine raider's that Dempsey was once apart of appeared out of nowhere. They were swiftly captured by her ape minions and were placed with the rest of the prisoners. Before she could do anything however they suddenly escaped captivity by the combined effort's of those dragons, the village' inhabitant's and Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen.

Then four other humans appeared near the exact same time those marine raider's were captured. She found them interesting. All of them had military clothing and equipment that she knew was from the 1950s – or sometime around that era - and onwards.

One of them, to her concern, seemed similar to Edward. Meaning that he hears voices or worse, actual people who aren't even there. He didn't appear to be as...'unstable' as Richtofen is, but when someone clearly starts talking to someone who isn't there, it certainly raises a red flag.

She didn't send anyone against them because; A) he wasn't as unstable as Edward Richtofen; B) he seemed completely sane. If he was injected, or came in contact with element 115, then she could influence him. Make him see things her way and get him to turn against his own comrades.

But that was out of the question. There is no element 115 in the vicinity nor did she detect any of the element within his bloodstream. So until then that option was out of the question.

Those thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Samantha's attention was brought back on to Dante's Freezer. Frowning Samantha pushed her mind out of her body and went to the frozen wasteland herself to discover what this...thing that had garnered her attention was.

It only took her a few seconds to disconnect her mind with her body. One of the huge advantages it gave her: it allowed her free reign and would allow her to interact with objects around her. One of the Major disadvantages: she was restricted to the area she 'appeared' in. In other words she's not allowed to leave Dante's Freezer until she reconnects herself to her main body.

Now that she was here in the flesh, so to speak, she could feel the anomaly clearly. There was something...a presence of some kind...slumbering within the ice. It was familiar to her. It felt like...those ridiculously overpowered zombies she had created against the living!

If she was connected to her main body, her face would've had a twisted smile that displayed untold glee at her discovery.

X.X.X.X.X

Nasty is what you could consider an average ape. He was not gigantic nor was he a hulking monster of an ape like Gaul. Nor did he have the ruthlessness of Grim. His height is almost the same as those elephant sized heavily armoured apes you find leading small groups of tiny and medium sized apes around on patrols. He didn't have any disfigurement anywhere on his body like when Gaul used a bright green gem to replace an eye he lost against a dragon.

What he did have is aggressiveness, and he had that is spades. He is aggressive' to his comrades when their slacking off their work and he shows no mercy to those who showed signs of cowardice in the midst of battle. Despite those traits Nasty was an average ape and almost never amounted to anything.

However ever since The Holy One came and released him and his brethren from their curse the Dark Master had inflicted on them he quickly rose within the ranks. While he isn't in the command of battle hardened soldiers, he is in the command of those who have seen battle. So they weren't completely green, nor are they completely useless either.

Unlike the others who preferred those difficult tasks he preferred the easy tasks over the more hard ones, so imagine his surprise when he was told by The Holy One herself that he along with Grim was to head to Dante's Freezer to look for something that was said to be buried there.

He was curious as to what they were sent to search for but was wise enough to hold his tongue. He didn't like the fact that Grim was going to be with them and he certainly did not like the fact that the traitorous bitch Cynder was going to be accompany them. He of course withheld his displeasure and followed The Holy One's orders and when they were prepared, they headed off to Dante's Freezer using some 'prototype weapons' of The Holy One.

Imagine his surprise when those prototype weapons were undead dragons.

Walking down one of the many recently made excavation tunnel's that dotted the island, Nasty evaluated the hard at work apes as they mined through the incredibly thick ice with his hands clasped behind his back. Apes would mine out the walls to create more space. Apes would gather the ice that gathered on the floor and place them in sacks of bags where it would then be dragged out and disposed off properly before the sack would be brought back inside for reuse.

They had made some decent progress in digging further inland if he said so himself. The main tunnel that he was in would have other tunnels throughout. They'd be spread from each other to avoid a collapse, something that he approved of. He didn't know just how strong the ice here was, but he wasn't going to risk a cave in because of recklessness. Less workers meant less progress and if there was one thing Nasty hated it was the lack of progress.

He was about to move on when someone let out a startled scream, catching his attention. Frowning Nasty turned in the direction it came from and found a small group of workers crowding together in front of one of the recently made tunnels. Scowling and letting out a threatening growl at the sight, as less people working meant less progress, Nasty marched (stomped) over there with the intention of reprimanding them.

When he got over there Nasty opened his mouth to yell at them. "Oi, ya' lot o'er there! Get back to work!" That was what he wanted to yell at them at first. Instead what came out was something completely different. "What in the name of the Holy One is that!?" He exclaimed in demand.

In front of him and the workers was an unidentifiable being (to them) encased in ice. It's appearance looked like an old person. Grey hair and a fairly trimmed beard wrinkles on its face. And a strange object that was on its face. Ice covered it so they had no idea what the creature had on its face. Its clothing was weird even for them. It's clothing consisted of a dark blue long sleeved shirt, a sleeveless brown jacket, and dark blue jeans and dark grey boots. Hanging from its neck the being had large earphones that looked worn out. Behind it was an object that was unidentifiable to their eyes as they could not get a good enough eye on it. But they could tell it was massive!

What they didn't realise that the being in front of them was someone who was once human. Who in his time-line was nicknamed 'The grandfather of all zombies'. He was captured by the zombies and infected by the element 115 that was spread throughout the island.

Nasty widened his eyes at the sight before they narrowed. He turned swiftly to face the workers and yelled in a commanding tone that had everyone stand at attention and focusing on him. "I want this...creature, dug out of there and disposed! No arguments. No excuses. I want some progress to be made!"

Had he still been looking at the former human behind him he would have seen a pair of sinister glowing yellow eyes slowly open. Had he been looking he would've noticed the being encased within the ice shift around. Had he been paying attention he would've noticed there was cracks beginning to appear on the ice as the former human began to become more and more aggressive in its escape.

Had he been paying attention, he would've been able to react in time when the ice containing the former human shattered into smithereens, with the former human roaring out challengingly as he swiftly brought down his weapon – a stagelight that had crackling electricity surrounding it – on Nasty's head, brutally crushing his head and the rest of his body like a grape. This in effect shook the entire tunnel system' putting everyone inside on alert.

The terrified apes all screamed in terror as the being effortlessly lifted the stagelight onto his shoulder, before leering at the monkey's with a cruel sickening smile. He began to laugh maddeningly out loud as the working apes ran away out of sheer horror.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Aw, don't run away!" The former human called out to them in an inhuman voice that was border line mocking them. "I've just woke up from a long sleep!" He added in exclamation before he slowly trailed after them. Like a predator stalking its prey.

Throughout all of this Samantha Maxis, who was still disconnected from her main body was watching. She didn't really care for the apes in the first place. Like she thought of them before they were merely a means to an end. They had found one of her more powerful undead minions. One of the rare few that are incapable of dying. With him haven been reawakened from his million year slumber, the chances of her victory had just increased. And with his stagelight he can increase the combat capability of her other minions.

Sometimes, she really loved being in control.


	24. Chapter 24

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 9

There are a lot of things that Cynder had seen in her short lifespan. A lot of the times, the things she'd seen would have unnerved a lot of people. She'd seen her own kin, those that she had put down herself when she was still working with the Dark Master, come back to life years after they'd been killed in battle.

She didn't bat an eyelash at that.

So when she heard terrified screams nearly, she quickly opened her eyes and bolted to her feet. Peering her head out of her tent, she a crowd gathering in front of one of the tunnels where the commotion was coming from. This was followed by the sound of rumbling from within' the tunnel, putting everyone on high alert.

With a frown pulling at her maw, Cynder with an irritated growl emerged from her tent and approached the assembling crowd with deadly narrowed eyes. She was going to get to the bottom of this commotion and sort it out before it gets too far out of hand.

When she was halfway, there was another rumbling sound from within the tunnel before the sound of a tunnel collapsing reached all their ears, followed by a noise of what sounded like a pained scream. This made all the apes who were gathered in front of the entrance, stare at each other nervously, before they, as one, slowly step away from the entry way.

"Is this place haunted?" One of the apes asked fearfully.

Another ape, standing beside the one that spoke, shook his head negatively as he stared at the entry way warily. "No it can't be. There was no reports like this when we were stationed here."

"Then what in the world, caused that noise in there!?" The first ape that spoke demanded, looking like he was close to panicking any moment.

That was when Cynder made her presence known. "This tunnel was made recently, remember?" She said to them in a tone that was lathed in sarcasm, making everyone turn and face her. "It is possible that your kinsmen merely uncovered something, disrupted it and it went on a rampage. Have any of you ever thought of that?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet voice with a sickeningly sweet smile that displayed her dagger like teeth.

"If there was something here we would've known." One of the more armoured apes stated.

"Actually I would've known." Cynder corrected him dryly. "My forces were stationed here. So any discovery that was found would have been reported to me." She frowned however and looked up when she saw a several shadows fly over them, seeing a few of the undead dragons flying above them. "However, there have been no reports of discoveries. So I'm just as in the dark as you are."

"So...if you don't know...and we don't know...then just what the hell has been hiding here?"

"That's a mystery. This place does have a remnant of human structures. One of them being that large contraption that is partially trapped inside the ice." Cynder replied as she pointed at the large ship that was embedded in the ice a fair distance away. "Anyway;" She coughed bringing everyone's focus back on her when they stared at the back end of the ship that was sticking out of them ice. "Whatever is inside there is obviously causing disruption." That was followed by more screams of agony before a tremor shook the earth. "And we obviously need an armoured large group to go inside and...if possible take care of the disturbance."

While Cynder didn't like the apes, if she had known what was in there, she wouldn't have sent a group inside to deal with it, not knowing the being was beyond their ability of combating.

X.X.X.X

Using his stagelight as a sledgehammer, George A Romero had crushed anyone that stood in his way. His mind was fuddled when he woke up after a long time of sleeping. But when he was finally awake and aware he was confused to find himself in a tunnel with ice everywhere. He was even more confused when he first laid his eyes on these...apes. They weren't much different from when he'd last saw them, but these ones seemed...smarter.

Like those apes from the movie The Planet of the Apes, these apes were capable of speech. They were capable of using weapons like swords from what he'd seen. Thankfully he had not seen anyone use any guns or any of the modern weapons he had grown up to know. From what little he saw, the former director was able to deduce that something had happened when he was sleeping. Something bug that had changed the world as he knew it.

He had no idea just how right he was.

Stalking through the tunnels in a slow pace, with the bloodied stagelight being carried effortlessly in one hand, George A Romero looked almost like a predator. He walked over the corpses of the fallen apes' with bloody footprints trailing behind him as he stepped in the puddles of blood and sinew.

"Come out come out where ever you are!" He called out tauntingly in that inhuman voice of his before chuckling maddeningly to himself. His voice had caused an echo to sound in the tunnels. An intimidation tactic to try and flush out the hiding prey. His sinister glowing yellow eyes glanced to the left when he heard something move and a cruel smirk pulled at his lips before he stalked his way over there.

As he approached the former human began to see a piece of fur sticking out from a corner. His eyes saw it shifted slightly nervously and if possible the smirk grew even more. He lowly chuckled to himself in sickening amusement. Grabbing the stagelight with his free hand Romero, brought the weapon back and swung it at the wall where the ape was the moment he came to the corner.

The ape wasn't able to react in time, and because of George's abnormal strength, the upper half of the mammal's torso was reduced to a bloody smear on the wall. Cracks began to spread from where the stagelight connected, but Romero didn't pay attention to the little details. He didn't care that the tunnel they were all in began to shake the moment his stagelight hit the wall.

The apes who had managed to get away could only watch in horror as their comrade in arms was crushed. His upper half being reduced to nothing but a bloody smear. They all flinched when they felt his blood splatter on their faces and were too scared to try and wipe the crimson liquid off.

Romero slowly turned his head to look at them. His smirk widened even further; the angle of his head allowed the apes to see what was hidden underneath his ice covered glasses' and saw his glowing yellow eyes. That combined with the way he appeared before them made him look like a sinister devil out for blood. And apart from the devil part, he totally was. "Heh-heh-heh..." The apes felt a sense of dread crawl up their spine at the sound of his sinister chuckling. "...I Found you..."

They could only scream out in sheer terror for a quick moment before they were abruptly silenced. Courtesy of Romero's weapon. Upon using it to crush one ape against the wall, he began to let out a loud sinister laugh as he felt its blood spray his face. Electricity came from the stagelight when it touched the ground and spread out in all directions, electrocuting and killing everyone in its path apart from Romero himself. The icy earth shook again before one of the tunnels, two tunnels down from the one he was in collapsed conveniently on top of another group of apes who were using it to hide from the insane man.

Lifting up the top part of his weapon from the ground, Romero searched for any more prey. He frowned in slight disappointment when he couldn't sense anyone. With a low inhuman growl rumbling in his throat he turned around and left in search of more prey, leaving behind a blood trail that came from the currently bloodied stagelight.

Maybe he should let them hit him in the next encounter? Give them a taste of his 'berserk state' and make them despair even more? Yeah. That sounded rather fun.

Normally, George A Romero would not be like this. But after being exposed to element 115, it had slowly deteriorated his mentality over time. Now after a long time sleeping, Romero's mental state was deeply down in the 'insanity' section. He is still able to tell from friend to foe but it was reserved. So instead the undead were friendly and the living were unfriendly.

His characteristics are more like the undead as well. But unlike his more mindless brethren, he wouldn't stop to eat the flesh of the living until everyone and everything in the vicinity are all dead. Unless his master told him too. And knowing how demented Samantha is that won't be likely.

Groaning in a low, creepy and dead tone Romero suddenly looked at the ground, and found an odd trail of footprints' that he guessed belonged to the apes he'd been killing recently. So with having nothing else to do he followed them, and after several minutes of following the trail he eventually finding the exit. He paused several metres away. Not liking how quiet it was. With all the killing he'd been doing since he'd woken up he'd have guessed that a few lucky ones who had managed to escape would go and alert their superiors of his existence.

Suddenly he sniffed the air, and a happy smirk pulled at his lips. He had gotten their scent, and with how fresh it was, they were close by. If they were waiting in ambush at the corners at the entry way, then they'll get to see his 'berserk state' quicker than he realised.

X.X.X.X

A few minutes before, a small amount of workers had run out of the tunnel as if the gates of hell itself had opened. In haste they told them that they had uncovered something, demonic and pure evil and was now hunting them down. This of course had not gone well with the others. Cynder realising that whoever was causing this is incredibly dangerous and had to be dealt with quickly before fear spreads throughout the camp. Or worse ends up with the death of everyone here.

So a few minutes of ordering everyone into two groups; the workers and the soldiers, Cynder had ordered the workers to go and regroup with the other works in another part of the island while the guards would stay here and fight whatever beast was causing panic. The workers were all too happy than to change to another area to work.

The guards however were not. But they withheld their displeasure as Cynder ordered a few of Samantha's prototype weapons to stay and give them support. Cynder would also be nearby to lend them support if things get a little too overwhelming for them.

So they all got into position. The guards splitting in two groups and taking cover in front of the two edges of the tunnel, making sure they were far enough away where they would not be spotted. The undead dragons' would be standing above the entry way, literally, by digging their nails in the ice. Cynder herself would be out of the way and out of sight. Allowing the apes and undead dragons to handle this until it becomes too much for them to handle.

They should be able to handle this. They did out number the thing after all.

Minutes had gone by, and, there was no sign of this being. It was too quiet for their liking. But they were patient and they would hold their position. They would not move until the attacker had gotten in their line of sight, or if they were ordered to move. Everyone tensed suddenly when they heard someone from within the tunnel approaching.

The apes tensed and brought their weapons up in preparation to strike as they heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. Then the sound suddenly stopped, and they all heard the being sniff the air. Not knowing it was getting their scent.

The sound of feet trudging against the ice was heard again and it wasn't until they saw the stagelight poke out of the tunnel they leapt out of cover. In mid-air, the apes raised their swords above their heads and brought it down to hack at their target. The moment their weapons collided with its target, the last thing the apes saw and heard before darkness taking over their senses, was an enraged roar and glowing yellow eyes behind glasses.

Cynder at first angry at what she'd seen. The being coming out of the tunnel, the same being that was killing everyone was a _human _of all things. He wore different clothing to Dempsey and the other humans' she had seen, and she completely ignored the fact that he was carrying a stagelight that was far too heavy to hold by one hand in the hands of an old man. If she were human too that would have raised some alarms in her head that something wasn't right.

Plus the tall tale signs of glowing yellow eyes under the spectacles should have told her he was infected with the same thing that reanimated the dead dragons. However given how far away she was from the rest of them that can be excused.

What happened next, however, was so clear even from her standing point. What the human did the moment the weapons came in contact with his skin made that anger change to pure and unaltered shock. The moment the apes hacked at the human, his body, literally changed before their very eyes.

His clothes ripped, and the exposed flesh became rotten and decomposing literally becoming an undead.

The second the human changed he roared out loud in anger, and without effort he swung the stagelight, throwing all apes off their feet crushing bones, and breaking necks the second the stagelight connected. Those that were lucky, had managed to duck beneath the swing and had put as much distance between them and the transformed human. However, they had underestimated just how fast Romero was in his berserk state and he had quickly caught up to them.

The zombified dragons who were positioned above the entry didn't move to intercept. The human was clearly an undead and to them that meant he was an ally. Plus while the chaos was happening Samantha was specifically giving them orders not to intercept. Not entirely sure that isn't a good idea as George Romero was decimating the opposition with little effort. The blunt force trauma he was delivering with his stagelight was enough to kill an ape instantly.

If they weren't then they'd be in severe pain as they slowly died. Because getting smacked in the side with a stagelight with the force of a sledgehammer behind it is enough to fatally wound a person. By giving them broken bones and ribs, with the ribs themselves piercing the lungs it would make that persons final hours really, really painful. Not to include the internal bleeding you would be slowly bleeding to death.

And that was what was happening to the apes. They would avoid the wild swings and put some distance between them and the weapon, but Romero would use his freakishly inhuman speed to quickly close the distance between them again and begin swinging away once more. Plus every time he ran, he would rest the stagelight on his left shoulder giving him better momentum when he would go and swing it.

Cynder obviously saw they were easily getting overwhelmed by the now berserk human and would have gone out there to help. Or at the least run away as she realised it would not have made a difference if she went there to help or not. She had quickly found she lost all control of her body apart from her head. The reason behind this was Samantha had directly taken control of the dragoness, the moment Cynder got on her feet and forced her to stay where she was and made her watch as Romero tore through the apes with ease.

"This is a demonstration of the forces at my command." Samantha explained to her. A demonstration indeed. George was getting impaled with the apes' swords and spears, and he was shrugging them off like they were nothing. He showed no sign of physical pain. He did not grunt in discomfort either.

"What is that thing?" Cynder asked, whimpering in fear as she watched the bodies of the apes cave in on themselves when they were hit with the stagelight – head first. He looked so disgusting. He was a sick twisted parody of a human. "It can't be a human!"

"Indeed. He is no longer human." Samantha confirmed sounding very pleased with herself. "He is more than that...special. An undead who simply _cannot die_." She then giggled as Romero roared out victoriously when he stamped on one of the apes' head who trying to crawl away from him, crushing the skull beneath his heel like a melon."No matter how much injury he is inflicted with, no matter how much damage you deliver him, he will not die. He is simply...unstoppable."

"If he can be hurt, if he can bleed, then he can die!" Cynder retaliated snappingly.

Samantha was silent for a moment. As if she were thinking on her words. For a moment Cynder thought she had succeeded in making the insane little girl quiet. But it was not to be. "...True. If not for the fact that the humans had more advanced weaponry than your species' and used a weapon capable of shooting powerful explosives on his head... Well, you can still _see _his head can't you?" She stated rhetorically. Cynder even though she could not see Samantha, knew she was waving her off dismissively. Her tone showed her dismissive posture she spoke in.

Cynder let out a low grunt when she tried to move again and grow irritated when she still found she had no control over her own body. "Why can't I move!?" She hissed.

"Why? Because I'm controlling you."

Cynder widened her eyes in shocked surprise. "What?! But how!? When!?"

"When you eat the key of course. I can't believe you forgot after I told you." The amount of sarcasm lathing her voice was so thick even a blind man would notice it.

Cynder paused and frowned in thought, only to come to a starling discovery moments later. "...I don't remember!"

"Oh of course!" Samantha sounded like she had just realised a revelation. "How could I have forgotten about that _teeny tiny_ fact: a side effect of being injected with element 115 – which was inside the key you eat – is memory loss. Don't worry, however. The effects are not too threatening...much."

Cynder didn't like how Samantha had trailed off awkwardly near the end. And what the heck did she mean it wasn't threatening much? And if that key had that element in it, does that mean she is at the risk of becoming a zombie too!?

"Element 115 was known for reanimating corpses." Samantha began to explain as if she had heard Cynder's unasked question. "If it is injected inside a living individual, the most common side effects would be death and then reanimation. Another side effect would be amnesia, bringing someone back to full health, and making said person stronger, faster and more durable. But seeing as you haven't dropped dead once you eat the key, you have little chance to dropping dead without warning." She quickly added when she saw Cynder was about to have a panic attack. It wouldn't do if her newest slave were to die because of her revealing her location to George Romero.

Cynder, hearing this, began to calm down visibly. So she wasn't at the risk of suddenly dropping dead and coming back as a zombie? That's, really reassuring. But that left the question.

"How do you know of this?"

Samantha again was oddly silent for a moment. "...I believe it had happened to me in the past." She sounded very unsure of herself. "I do remember Richtofen experimenting on others to create super soldier's. As far as I remember, apart from myself, only three others had succeeded."

"Who were they?"

"You know one of them: Tank Dempsey. The other two are Takeo Masaki and Nikolai Belinski. They along with Edward Richtofen are the ones' who infiltrated your temple several months ago."

X.X.X.X

Morning came rather quickly and like they planned last night, at 0700am Mason, Woods, Weaver, Hudson, Polonsky and Roebuck had gathered their equipment and headed to Dante's Freezer with Hunter leading the way. It wasn't until they were a fair bit away from the liberated village that they had realised one critical thing. Or rather the lack of it.

They had no idea what they were looking for. Or rather what it looked like.

Sure they knew they were looking for a very, very dangerous weapon with the possibility that it can turn living breathing beings and turning them into zombies. But they had no idea what the hell the weapon looked like. They had a basic idea that the weapon would be different than they were used too and would be out of place, so to speak. Then again, the six of them were out of place.

They were far away from the village when they realised it and while the smart thing was to head back and ask Dempsey if he knew what the dammed thing looked like, they would be wasting valuable time backtracking and they all knew that time was not on their side. Hunter had suggested sending one of his own back to get the information, as they were quick runners and could track other cheetah's by their scent alone.

Having an anthropomorphic animal, that can run faster than humans, make the run back to the liberated village and track them down without having to delay until said cheetahs return? The answer to that was obvious. And so without much protest, Hunter sent one of his own back to the village with the intention in knowing if Dempsey knows the identification of the WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) they were all looking for.

That was almost 20 minutes ago and they still had a few hours of travelling to go. Wanting to pass the time Polonsky decided to start up a conversation. "So since you're all from the future, how long was it since the war?"

"Which war?" Mason asked bluntly.

"What do you mean 'which war'? Are we still fighting against the Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire and anyone else who sided with Hitler?" Roebuck questioned with a curious look.

"Oh!" Mason widened his eyes in realization at what war they were asking about. "No. Nazi Germany along with their allies were defeated. The Japanese had finally surrendered after we hit them with two bombs we developed."

Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck were relieved. So they had won the war in the end? That was good news. It was lifting. But they were curious as to what bomb they had developed and what it did that had caused the Japanese to surrender.

"It was a nuclear bomb." Woods answered upon seeing the curious looks the marine raiders were giving them. "They were being developed during the early stages of 1945 and were used later on in the year to bring an end to the war."

"Never heard of a nuclear bomb before. How dangerous are they?" Miller asked.

"Let me put it this way: a single one of those bombs can level a large part of a city. The residue left behind by the explosion can kill thousands of others later on; that is if they had managed to survive the initial explosion of course."

The looks on their faces were priceless. "Holy shit."

Woods chuckled humourlessly. "I know. When the Japanese finally surrendered, I think it was because they felt threatened by those bombs, and didn't want more of their people dying." He snorted. "It was a smart move of them to surrender in my opinion."

The rest of the way was met with silence after that. However, it wasn't until after another 20 minutes of silence later that Polonsky asked another question. This time it was directed at their guide. "Hunter, were the apes always like this?"

Said cheetah shook his head after regarding the human. "No. They weren't. Once, a very long time ago, they had minded their own business. Kept to themselves and avoided others unless they needed too." He frowned and pulled his snout back in a snarl, that was filled with hatred. "Then the Dark Master came. A purple dragon who, like Spyro, was able to command all the elements with little to no effort. He approached the apes with an offer of power if they worked under him, and, being themselves' the thought of power was too much of a temptation to ignore and they accept."

"Seeing the way they are now I'm going to guess they've accepted the offer?" Woods asked dryly.

Hunter nodded as his expression darkened considerably. "Yes, they did. Once they accepted the power that was offered to them they went and waged war on everyone. Everyone they came across, every species they had encountered, they had forced under submission. The dragons' however had a fate worse than slavery. Under the Dark Master's orders they had almost wiped them off the face of the planet. Since the Dark Master hated his own species he wanted to bring them to extinction, and, if it weren't for Spyro he would have succeeded."

"Spyro..." Polonsky said. He tapped the corner of his lip in thought as he scrunched up his face. "...that wouldn't be the other purple dragon would it?" He asked making Hunter and the other cheetah's look at the human with surprise on their faces.

"You met him?" One of the female cheetah's asked in astonishment.

"Yeah." Replied Polonsky as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "He was among the captives who were at the village we had liberated." He scratched the back of his neck as he shrugged adding; "Neither he nor the other captives are there anymore though. Something just...took them away while leaving us behind? I have no idea."

"You sound a little unsure there." One of the cheetah's had stated.

Polonsky scoffed."Well wouldn't you be a little unsure if everyone apart from you and the others' just upped and vanished all of a sudden?" He asked rhetorically. "Hell my look-a-like thinks there's someone called 'Author' following us. Plus we've been teleported to several different places' thanks to Dempsey talking to said 'Author'" He said, using quotations when he said the word author.

The S.O.G group stared at Polonsky in bewilderment the second that sentence came straight from his mouth. While they didn't see anything wrong with Dempsey in appearance, they knew anyone with a mentality like that should not be in the military. He should have been discharged. But having been fighting the undead constantly for as long as he could remember – which is not long thanks to his amnesia – they couldn't really blame him. He may have made up this author person to deal with the stress the constant fighting had brought unto him.

And then there's Richtofen. One of the people responsible for making the dead coming back to life. He seemed stable, for the most part. But they could see there was something wrong with him. They didn't know what though. Nikolai...he was a drunk. Pure and simple. Takeo he is the strong-silent type of person who only speaks when needed, or once he is spoken too.

"Maybe Dempsey has post-traumatic stress? With everything he had been through he may have made this 'Author' person to in order to cope with it?" Woods suggested.

"Likely. Someone who was constantly fighting where ever he went doesn't come out as the same person before." Hudson said with a thoughtful stroke of his chin.

"Post-traumatic stress?" Hunter asked.

"It is a disorder that someone gets after they are exposed to something that was traumatic to them. An example would be the threat of death, like war. Or torturer." Mason explained, before closing both his eyes and reaching up with his hands to massage the sides of his head. Another thing that could have been a cause of post-traumatic stress is illusions. Having create a personality of a person you know, or someone random just to cope with what had happened.

Woods seeing this looked at Mason in concern and grabbed his shoulder worryingly. "Mason? You alright there?"

"Yeah... Just... Memories I didn't want to remember spouted up."

"Memories of Vorkuta?"

Mason nodded grimly, his fist clenched until his knuckles whitened. "Yeah. Vorkuta."

"What happened to you in Vorkuta?" Polonsky asked as he glanced curiously at Mason.

Alex's face darkened considerably. "A lot of things. Things I don't want to talk about." He said in a tone that told the teen to drop it. Polonsky nodded with a small frown showing that he was going to drop the issue, even if he was displeased he wasn't going to get his question answered.

For the better part of the day everyone was quiet and with Hunter leading the way they were able to make some progress. Three hours after they left the village, the cheetah that had went back had managed to track them down again and rejoined the group. When they asked if he had gotten information on the weapon's appearance, he replied to their disappointment that he was unable to receive any information on the weapon so they were in the dark on what it looked like.

"Great. We don't know what the dang thing looks like." Polonsky complained.

"It was a long shot Polonsky. Not everything will go our way." Roebuck replied with Miller nodding in agreement. He knew Roebuxk was speaking from experience. When Sullivan was leading the mission to rescue his team that was captured during the early stages of the American-Japanese war, he was injured by a Japanese soldier who used his Katana just before they had managed to escape after he had destroyed an enemy weapons depot in Makin Atoll.

He got out of there in one piece however, but only he out of the two survivors of that rescue was the only one that was able to fight. So yeah. Not everything can go according to plan.

"I know that, serge. I just don't like the fact we're going in partially blind."

"Neither do I. But as long as we work together, we'll overcome all obstacles."

"Yeah!" Miller patted Polonsky on the shoulder reassuringly. "So chin up. With the seven of us together all of us will get through this."

Polonsky gave Miller a sceptical look for a second before he gave a reluctant nod. As much as he would like to believe that, he along with the others all knew this wasn't going to be easy as going in and search willy nilly with no opposition. Still, having some optimism on getting through the mission alright did raise their spirits slightly.

"Alright. But remember Miller; we're running low on ammo." The teen reminded them.

"Yeah I know what you mean. I'm down to my last mags for this." Miller sulked as he looked to his Thompson hanging from his shoulder.

"So apart from having to search for a weapon we have no idea what it looks like, we also have to watch for our ammo as well..." Roebuck trailed off, the list of problems seemed to grow more and more the more the second they took this mission. He looked at both Polonsky and Miller with a look on his scarred face that is befitting a sergeant. "We'll have to play this smart then. Use our weapons when we have no other choice."

"That is where we come in." Hudson interjected making Miller, Polonsky and Roebuck turn to stare at him. "Weaver and I have sniper rifles. If we can find a good spot that overlooks the entire area, we both can cover your approach as you three, Woods and Mason make your way in."

"We won't have radio contact though. And as far as I know there's no satellites here which means we won't be able to communicate with one other if we go with your plan." Woods pointed out dryly.

For a moment Hudson stared silently at Frank in the eyes who gladly returned the gesture. With a blank look on his scarred face Hudson reached for his walkie-talkie, pressed the communication button on the side, and then he leaned toward it.

"Mason, you receiving this?" He spoke into the receiver.

Much to Woods' surprise he heard Hudson's voice come from Mason's walkie-talkie. Blinking Mason touched the communication button on the side of his walkie-talkie and replied; "Yeah, I'm receiving you."

Hudson nodded and gave Frank a pointed look. Sighing Woods rubbed the bridge of his nose before exhaling through his mouth. "Aright, I was wrong. We can communicate with one another."

He didn't bother to question on how that was possible. Since there was no radio station or satellite to transmit, by all rights it should not have worked. He suspected it had to do with the walkie-talkies themselves. They do transmit radio waves that can be received through another walkie-talkie. He didn't know how far a distance that can work until they receive static interferences but he will take what they've got until they have a better solution.

It was pretty stupid of them that they hadn't thought of this problem until now of all things. Just when they are several miles away from the liberated village.

"How long until we get there?" Weaver questioned patently.

"We only have a few more miles left to go." Was Hunter's reply.

Weaver nodded his head in confirmation, though Hunter didn't see it, before he rolled his shoulders to get rid of the stiffness he was starting to have, from the added on weight the weapons and ammunition he was carrying on his person.

X.X.X.X

Meanwhile at the recently liberated village Tank and Nikolai were walking around the village to get a better lay out. Mainly because they needed to find a way to barricade it so it could be defended easier from any raiders and bandits who thought this village would be easy pickings because of how abandoned it appeared. With the two of them surveying the landmarks, they would know the best places to put these barricades.

Takeo was at the Mark IV tank with Richtofen. He wanted to see if it was useful for them. Don't get him wrong, having a tank is very useful, but given this was gifted to them by Samantha of all people, the Japanese Samurai wasn't going to take any chances.

It was all quiet when suddenly, Nikolai out of nowhere asked; "Comrade, what are we going to do with our ammo issue?"

Tank glanced at Nikolai from the corner of his eyes, and shrugged with a bored look on his face. "Dunno, we usually have those 'Max Ammo' things to resupply us. But I haven't seen a floating Max Ammo in a while. Maybe whoever is giving us them and the other things to help us is having trouble getting them to us because of where we are?" He replied questionably to Nikolai, who shrugged in response.

"We still need to solve our problem though." The drunk reminded him.

Dempsey slowly turned his head and stared deadpanned at the Russian. "I know that, Nikolai." He said slowly and patently, as if he were explaining to a child. "But we don't have anything that can take care of our 'munition crisis. So we have to rely on our friend who's been watching after us, during our fighting with Samantha's undead army, to give us what we needed." Not to mention they would have to change weapons the moment they find a weapon outline. Those are lifesavers whenever they happened to run out of ammo.

If Nikolai weren't as drunk as he is, he would have noticed that Dempsey was slightly mocking with the way he was speaking to him. Luckily for Tank Dempsey, the Russian did not take notice so he had gotten away with it.

"Ah, right, the glowing and suddenly-turning-to-blinking icon thingy that we mostly see whenever we turn up somewhere new." Nikolai said as he nodded his head to himself. He suddenly turned to the marine walking next to him; "How come we haven't seen one lately?"

Dempsey gave Nikolai a nasty look. After he had just told him a minute ago, he forgot!? "The fuck am I suppose to know!?" He snapped irritatingly at Nikolai, who merely frowned and made a thoughtful sound. He didn't take notice of the irritating look on Dempsey's face, or the strangling motion he was doing with a sickeningly gleeful expression, as he was currently looking elsewhere.

Tank took a few calming deep breaths and forced himself to look ahead. Don't get him wrong, he liked the man as a friend, but for Christ sake he really got on his nerves sometimes.

"How's your leg?" The marine questioned all of a sudden, gazing at Nikolai's' bandaged leg with narrowed eyes in concern.

Nikolai grunted. "I get phantom pains every now and then." The drunk admitted as he looked down at said leg while grumbling lowly under his breath; "But I can walk properly now. That is good, eh?"

"Yeah. That's good." Tank replied positively. It was a good thing they healed quickly. After all this time he still had no idea why that was. Maybe it is because of those bottles, like Juggernaut, that somehow enhances their body to go beyond their capabilities? He didn't know if there were side effects' apart from the obvious, where Speed Cola shortens the time to reload their weapons by making their muscles move faster than humanly possible. Or double tap, to increase the number of bullets fired from their weapons by x2.

"It wouldn't do if I had to save your sorry ass all the time, Nikolai." The marine added in a joking manner, as this was sort of a running gag between them; where Tank is usually the one to rescue Nikolai when he got into a situation that was way over his head.

Like a horde of zombies. A massive horde of zombies. He mainly had to team up with Takeo, and sometimes Richtofen to rescue Nikolai from his predicament. Sometimes they had to abandon their ground and retreat when they were about to be overwhelmed. In Kino Der Toten they had been close to being overrun far too many times in the past to count. They had gotten out of there out of sheer luck alone. It helped they had advanced weaponry in the form of the Thunder Gun and gun turrets in critical parts of the theatre. Those things were life savers.

"What do you think happened to those scaly creatures who were with us?"

Dempsey scratched beneath his chin. "They could be anywhere in the world, Nikolai. But if I were to guess, I'd say they were transported back to Warfang?" He then shrugged. "But as I said it is just a guess."

Nikolai grumbled in confirmation. That was as close to an answer he could get. While he didn't know them that well, he couldn't help but be concerned for the former captives when they suddenly vanished. Even if he didn't show it.

Suddenly Dempsey chuckled under his breath. "You know, this is sort of like a vacation." He said, getting Nikolai to look at him questioningly. Seeing the look the Russian was giving him, Dempsey elaborated; "There's no zombies. No one trying to kill us. We're just walking through the village, looking for things. It's a small vacation we all earned."

Nikolai looked thoughtful before nodding a moment later in agreement. What his comrade had said was true. For as long as he could remember all he, Takeo, Dempsey and Richtofen had done was fighting zombies, solving difficult puzzles and helping people. Now they weren't doing anything right now, it did feel like a small break. It was...strange not doing anything that involved risking their life to complete an objective they had no idea about.

The only time they hadn't done anything, was when they were trapped behind a room where the only door to the room was frozen shut. They had to get other people to help him out. He sighed blissfully in remembrance. Those were the days.

For the better part of the day all Tank and Nikolai had managed to do was walk around the village, and mentally marked off the important areas they would have to barricade off, but that was pretty much it. They were quick to realise if they were to fortify this place then they needed more people to help them out. But at the moment there were only four of them, with two looking over the Mark IV tank.

The others were probably halfway to Dante's Freezer by now. While they could wait around for them all to come back, that would be wasting time, and they all could do something more productive than waiting around. Like gathering food. And Nikolai had given Dempsey the rest of the meat he had kept, who in turn gave the rest to the marines' after he had taken a few chunks out of it.

It wasn't long until they double-round and went back the way they came from. Eventually the two encountered Takeo and Richtofen who still had their full attention on the Mark IV tank. They didn't even notice Tank and Nikolai approach while they were approaching.

"What are you and Richtofen doing Takeo?" Tank asked as he and Nikolai approached. Takeo glanced at Dempsey from the corner of his eye, before jerking his head toward the German who was inside the tank itself.

"Richtofen wanted to see if the machine was 'booby-trapped'." He said stoically, using quotations when saying booby-trapped. "Nothing has come up so far." He added with a lazy shrug.

"Maybe because tank is not trapped with boobies?" Both Tank and Takeo were giving Nikolai disbelieving stares at what he said. Nikolai misinterpreted their facial expressions compelling him to ask; "What is wrong? Is something on my face?"

"Nikolai..." Tank began, getting said Russian to look at him with a small confused look on his face. "Why the hell would you think that tank is trapped by breasts?" He asked, his voice slowly giving way to incredulousness by the end.

"Because you said it was booby-trapped. Therefore it is trapped by breasts, no?"

Tank shakingly inhaled and exhaled with mild irritation. Taking another deep breath Tank gave Nikolai a patented stare; "Nikolai, in this context, the term 'booby-trapped' is something that is covered in traps. It is nothing more than a figure of speech, understand?"

"Figure of speech?"

"Yes, a figure of speech. Just because Takeo said the tank is boody-trapped, it doesn't _really_ mean it is trapped by breasts. Got it?"

Nikolai took a few long seconds – which slowly turned into minutes – to understand what Dempsey was trying to explain to him. Given he was hammered, like a jock on steroids, it took quite a while for him to understand completely. Afterwards he slowly nodded to show he managed to comprehend what Dempsey was trying to explain to him.

"Tank is covered in traps? Not covered by breasts?"

"Yes! That's it!"

Takeo felt one of his eyes twitch, and had to resist the compulsion to unsheathe his katana and cut both Nikolai and Dempsey down. He was pretty sure he had lost a few brain cells from what he had heard. Ignoring them the samurai had turned to the tank when he heard Richtofen yell frustratingly in German from within the tank. Of course Dempsey and Nikolai were ignoring the German because Dempsey was now, for some unknown reason, trying to explain to Nikolai what figure of speech meant.

"...no, Nikolai, just no, listen to me ok? That is not what figure of speech is!"

"Then give me example!"

"Fine! Here is an example for you: I have butterflies in my stomach!"

Nikolai stared dumbly at Dempsey before he lowered his gaze to his stomach. "...you really have butterflies in your stomach?"

"No, you dumb ass! That was an example! It's a figure of speech!" Dempsey exclaimed loudly with twitching eyes, before growling loudly at Nikolai. He is very, very annoyed with him. No one, even if they are drunk cannot be this stupid.

"Then give me example."

"I DID GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" It was of no surprise to anyone, that Dempsey at this point had completely lost his patience with the drunk and snapped at him.

Takeo at this point was no longer paying attention to them and was now walking behind the tank, to see what problem Richtofen had ran into to make him yell out in frustration like he did.

By the time the Asian got there, he could hear Richtofen ranting to himself under his breath, as he examined the tank for any defects._"(1)Warum auf der Erde tat, Göre hasste uns zu geben haben einen Tank, ist fast sieben Jahre nach der Zeit? Wenn wir doch nur ein Tiger, das gibt uns mehr von Vorteil!"_

"Is everything alright, Edward?"

"Ja, ja, everything is fine. _(2)_ _Natürlich, alles wäre besser, wenn wir einen Tank, ist mehr moderner als dieses Stück Scheiße wir haben._" He waved off in fake cheer, before ranting lowly once again in German. Takeo didn't know the rest of what he was saying but nodded along anyway. He had a feeling it had something to do with the Mark IV tank.

Grunting in irritation Richtofen took off his cap and rubbed his forehead with his sleeve. Stopping what he was doing Richtofen, walked out of the tank and placed his cap back on his head before looking at Dempsey and Nikolai, frowning when he saw the two were still childishly arguing with one another. It wasn't over the 'figure of speech' thing anymore; it was over something else entirely.

Basically, which country was better.

"No! The motherland is better than your country! We have bears!"

"We have bears in America too." Dempsey pointed out dryly.

The Russian paused, then thought of a comeback, then exclaimed loudly and viciously; "The Motherland is big in size!"

Dempsey merely shook his head with a smirk. "So is America, Nikolai. You'll have to do better than that to get one over on me."

Nikolai clenched his fist in frustration for several seconds. Then he brought said fist up to rub his chin. Snapping his fingers Nikolai jerked his thumb at himself with a victorious smirk, "The Motherland have Vodka!"

"The United States has a massive monument on Mount Rushmore." Dempsey easily replied, folding his arms across his chest with a 'beat that' look on his face.

Nikolai scowled at that and threw his arms up in defeat and turned away from the American. Dempsey chuckled victoriously before patting Nikolai on the shoulder. "Hey, you win some, you lose some. Just this time you lost." He didn't do it to rub it in. He was merely stating the obvious. Even if he did sound he was rubbing it in Nikolai's face.

"Bah! Whatever! Next time you will not be so lucky!" The Russian said in declaration, turning around and pointed a finger a Dempsey dramatically. If there was a soundtrack to go along with this, the music would have become dramatic the moment Nikolai turned around and pointed. But of course there was not.

"Of course there isn't any dramatic music!" Dempsey suddenly exclaimed as he looked toward the sky. "This is a fan made story between two games, not a reality TV show! Fucking dumbass..." Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen all stared at Dempsey in awkward silence who realised people were looking at him, and returned the stare with one of his own. "...What?"

Takeo didn't say anything. Though he did drive his face into his palm before dragging across his face. Richtofen merely ignored Dempsey, and turned his attention back to the Mark IV tank while muttering "Stupid Americans." under his breath before the sounds of tools moving was heard from within. Nikolai blinked evenly at Dempsey's outburst, and letting out a sigh Nikolai pinched the bridge of his nose and asked; "Who were you talking to, American?" Nikolai's tone was the same as his original personality: intelligent and clear.

Dempsey frowned confusingly. "The Author. Why?"

The now oddly serious Nikolai, which Takeo noticed was different than he was just seconds ago, deadpanned at the American. "The last time we spoke of this person, you had no idea who this 'author' was. And now you claim to be talking to this 'author'?" He asked/demanded while using quotations.

"Fourth wall breaking man. I've done it in Der Riese. I did it in Shi No Numa. I even did it in Kino Der Toten and Ascension. So, do. Not. Question. That is the power of fourth wall breaking..." The former marine raider replied seriously. Each syllable coming from his mouth, Tank Dempsey slowly got into Nikolai's personal bubble until he was right in Nikolai's face. "Ok?" He questioned, suddenly turning a full 180 in attitude.

Nikolai worried about his own safety quickly nodded his head; Dempsey leaned away with a satisfied nod before walking away toward the direction they both had come from, leaving Takeo and Nikolai to watch him walking away. Richtofen was back in the Mark IV tank so he had no idea what had transpired just now.

"Takeo..."

"Yes Russian?"

Nikolai turned to look at the Asian with a unnerved look that was poorly hidden; "Agree that we do not question the American's strange laps in sanity?" At Takeo's nod, Nikolai began nodding to himself as if that would reassure him. "Good. No questioning his laps in sanity. Live longer that way..."

Dempsey yawned out loudly as he stretched his arms over his head. He stared ahead with bored eyes as he mindlessly walked away from the others with no destination in mind. With everything peaceful, and that cheetah who came by to ask him on the identification of the weapon the others were looking for, hours earlier now gone, he could go about exploring the village unhindered.

A few minutes of mindless wondering, he suddenly paused mid-step, and back traced when he walked past a patch of hay underneath a few wooden planks. Normally that would not be something that would garner his attention. What made it catch his attention however – it was not there when he and Nikolai took this path minutes before, and there was a teddy bear with dried blood matting its fur, sitting on top of it.

It was a mystery box location. But if that was here when it wasn't minutes ago, then that would mean... Eyes widening in alarm Dempsey immediately checked to see if he still had his CZ75. To his dismay, it was gone, replaced with an M1911, with a full clip and 32 bullets in reserve. He snapped his head up when he heard the familiar groans of the undead and snarled aggressively as he took the safety off on his side arm.

Suddenly a creepy, childish laugh that slowly turned demonic he knew all to well echoed throughout the village. It is the same laugh that accompanied the mystery box every. Fucking. Time. They got a teddy bear from the dreaded thing.

"Here we go again..." Murmured the marine as he held out the pistol in front of him before he, along with the other three vanished.

X.X.X.X

Samantha after telling Cynder about the other successful experiments: aka herself, Takeo, Dempsey and Nikolai she released her control on the dragoness and after giving Romero strict instructions not to harm Cynder and the working apes – those who acted as guards however were free game – she took her leave and after remembering what Tank and the other's did to her faithful pet, Fluffy, decided to get her own on them. So going back to her body she went to the village they had liberated to see what they were all doing.

She was very disappointed to see the village almost abandoned once again. She was happy to see that her mortal enemies were still there though. So she decided to give them a surprise she knew they'd loathe. First she started by placing a few spawn locations for her mystery box in the form of a patch of hay with wooden planks on top and her favourite blood stained teddy bear sitting on it.

Second after Dempsey saw one of the spawn places that was not there minutes ago, she easily took away his CZ75 and replaced it with an M1911 .Colt with 32 bullets in reserve and 8 already in the chamber.

Third to tell them all she was back, she let out a childish laugh that slowly turned demonic in nature, and teleported them all off the streets and into one of the buildings together. Fourth she sent out her new undead army to test against them! That were made by, cheetahs and moles and wolves and many, many more!

She had gotten this new army through her campaign against the living. The apes were big contributors on getting her a new undead army. All she had to do was send them out on the villages, kill off all the inhabitants, and bring their remains to her so she could get started on reanimating them.

This was the first time, however, she was sending them against her sworn enemies. And she was eager to see how they would stack up to her old army.

* * *

_(Don't know if the translation is right or not, but I'd like to think it is.)_

_**Translation:**_

_**(1) Why on earth did that little brat have to give us a tank that is almost seven years out of date? If only we had a tiger, that would give us more of an advantage!**_

_**(2) Of course, everything would be better if we had a tank that is more up to date than this piece of shit we've**_** got.**


	25. Chapter 25

Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 10

One would ask themselves: how did Samantha manage to bring her undead army to the village her mortal foes were inhabiting so fast. They were nowhere near the village itself. The answer to that was simple: teleportation. It was something her hellhounds could do whenever she pit them against the zombie slayers. She wanted her new minions to have a similar ability to her hellhounds too, so she experimented on the corpses the apes had brought to her the moment she got her hands on them.

Element 115 is scarce now. Finding a large cache is rare nowadays and the last time she found one was at the Mountain of Malefor. But ever since the mountain collapsed she had been unable to get her hands on it. So she had to resort to...other methods.

Der Riese may have collapsed thanks to those dragons all those months ago, but she made sure to keep the presence of the apes hidden from the eyes of the Dragon Guardians when she sent them there to scavenge the complex for anything useful. She remembered the earth around the facility was dead. So whatever was in there, keeping the forces of nature at bay would be useful to her.

It turned out to be a stash of element 115. It was in small amounts, smaller than she would've liked, but she was ecstatic to see there was a cache of element 115 still around. The amount was small enough for her to raise a small army. About 100 of them would be raised from the dead. So she used it on 80 of the bodies the apes had taken when they raided the villages she sent them out to pillage, and the remaining 20 were from the dragons the apes had dragged from the battlefield that became their graves.

After they were infected, Samantha made her undead minions infect other bodies, which in turn allowed them to rise from the grave. Then she began her experimenting. Away from the prying eyes of others, while her ape minions brought in more corpses to be infected before becoming her new test subjects.

Months had passed. And she had received failure, after failure, after failure for her troubles. After months of constant failure, when she was about to give up on her experimenting, she decided to try one last time. But done it a little differently than the last several times. She examined one of her hellhounds; to see how their teleporting ability worked.

Turned out there was a mutation inside their brains that gave them the ability of perception. This perception, after she dug in a little further, gave her hellhounds an out of body experience. In other words it allowed the overgrown dogs to see where they were going, before they teleported. It was how they always appeared near Tank and the others every single time they were about to go in.

Long story short: Samantha found out what she needed from the hellhounds, and copied it in the same likeness she found in her hellhounds to her new undead. Now they have the ability to teleport in the location they see their targets in.

Eager to watch the upcoming slaughter fest, Samantha got herself comfortable as she watched her new undead army teleport on the outskirts of the village Tank, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen are inhabiting. Since the buildings in this village had little to no windows, Samantha covered any available windows with planks, put down some chalk outlines for some weapons for them to get, and place the mystery box in the same place Dempsey had found the first spawn point.

Grinning Samantha lay out on her stomach and rested her chin beneath her hands as she eager watched down on the trio. If there was one thing she had missed after a million years of inactivity, it was watching the survivors struggle to survive.

X.X.X.X

"God fucking dammit!" Dempsey bellowed out furiously. He kicked over a table in anger the moment he and the others were all teleported in one of the buildings. "I thought we were free from this zombie fighting bullshit!" He was angry, and frustrated with the recent event that brought them in this situation.

"As long as Samantha is around, we vill never be free from her minions." Richtofen stated. A frown pulled at his lips as he looked around the room they were all in. Like Dempsey, he, Takeo and Nikolai had their weapons replaced by M1911s before they were teleported in to this room. So the first thing they needed to do was secure some new weapons.

Like in every starting room since they teleported inside that theatre in Germany, there was an outline of an M-14 battle-rifle and a Olympia shotgun on the walls. They were on the opposite walls. While not as powerful as the MP-40 or the AK74u, they would do until they needed to secure some new weapons.

Walking over to the Olympia outline Richtofen placed his gloved hand flat on the surface. The second his hand touched the weapon outline he felt the drainage that accompanied it every time he wanted to buy a new weapon or some ammo. Feeling an object materialising in his palm he gripped it and pulled away, revealing in his hand a real Olympia shotgun along with another one manifesting on the outline itself.

Nikolai seeing Richtofen with a new weapon, followed his example by getting one of his own. "Good idea, comrade!" Exclaimed the Russian, walking up to the wall the Nazi was standing in front of. "Getting ourselves outfitted with new weapon to give us better chance at survival! I like that idea!" This was followed with Nikolai placing his palm flat on the surface of the Olympia, and after feeling the drainage that came after he touched it, he gripped the shotgun and pulled it off the wall leaving behind an exact replica in the same spot. "I never did understand how that worked..."

Dempsey grunted in discomfort as an M-14 battle-rifle appeared in his hand, while manifesting on the outline in front of him. "I don't think any of knows how it works, Nikolai." The marine replied, wheezing and coughing before standing back and allowing Takeo to have his turn. With an M-14 of his own Takeo silently followed Tank to the middle of the room with Nikolai and Richtofen meeting them halfway.

"Alright, guys, what's the plan here? Do we wait for the zombies to break in? Or do we kill them the moment we see them?" Dempsey questioned, looking between the three with an even stare.

If this was anything like their previous engagements with the undead, then they were going to need more 'points' to spend in order to open the doors to the outside; so they had to play this smart.

Takeo frowned and narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the room. There was no windows, so they had no idea on where the zombies are going to come in. With that in mind the Asian gave Dempsey his opinion. "I suggest we wait until they get in. We have no idea which wall they will chose to breach."

Dempsey looked around the room again with a frown. No windows so no visible places for them to cover. "I see your point." He agreed. He then turned to Richtofen and Nikolai; "What do you guys think? Wait until they break in?"

Richtofen gave an indifferent shrug. "Who cares. Zhey vill reveal themselves no matter vhat ve choose."

"I agree with Richtofen." Nikolai voiced out his own agreement. "But I am all for waiting! Perhaps we will get some of those floating things when we kill them again?"

The four tensed when they heard moaning from the outside; unlike the ones they were used too however these ones were different. Very different. They sounded like dying howls you would expect to hear from an animal.

Everyone took off the safety on their Olympia' and M-14s, and strained their hearing to find where the moaning was coming from. They all took aim at the wall on their left when they heard someone on the other side banging and scratching on the surface. Sharing a look with one another, the four zombie slayers slowly moved to the wall, but made sure to keep themselves away from gripping distance in case the zombies began to try and grab them when they made a big enough gap in the wall.

Suddenly a small section of the wall collapsed, with a decaying, skinless arm reaching through the gap before the arm bent to grab on another section of the wall. Whoever owned the limb had showed inhuman strength when the arm pulled back, taking away a large section of the wall with it.

"Holy shit..." Was Tank Dempsey's shocked words when he saw just what was on the other of that wall. From what they could make out, it used to be a cheetah. The only reason he could identify it was because of it's facial structure. While it was missing chunks of its flesh, and had patches of fur and skin missing, Tank was still able to compare its face to the other cheetahs that were here this morning.

Now he knew what had happened to those missing inhabitants that the Dragon Guardians said were missing. Samantha turned them into zombies. He was startled from his thoughts when he heard one of the Olympia's going off and the cheetahs head literally exploding. Turning he wasn't surprised to see that it was Nikolai who delivered the first shot. Dempsey smirked inwardly, guess Nikolai was too impatient on letting them in.

Nikolai opened fire once more when he saw another zombified cheetah take the place of the one he shot, and had to reload as he had used both shells that were in the chamber. As Nikolai reloaded his weapon none of the others opened fire as they saw several more arms reach through the gap to tear down more and more of the wall. Wanting them to make a large enough gap for them to be able to get inside first before they opened fire.

It took Nikolai five seconds to reload his weapon again and he took aim with it once more at the opening. However he did not open fire, opting to wait for them to get inside of the room first. As more and more of the wall was torn away, the four were slowly able to see just how many of them were outside at the moment. They all had a grim expression as they saw a large horde on the other side of the wall waiting to break in.

Turning to gaze at one another, they nodded simultaneously as if they knew what the others were thinking. Taking position in front of Nikolai and Richtofen, both Takeo and Dempsey knelt down and the four took aim at the gap in the wall that was getting bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. The two stared down the sights of their M-14s, while Nikolai and Richtofen stared down the sights of their Olympia's, the four knowing what their roles are.

Nikolai and Richtofen would open fire first; kill and wear down the zombies as they climbed through the gap. Takeo and Dempsey would then take over as the two behind them reloaded. The M-14 had more bullets to fire than the Olympia, so they would be able to take down any zombies that tried to make their way in the room as the two behind them reloaded. It was an effective system that had worked every single time, the four had managed to get themselves bogged in to a corner.

When the zombies had manage to make a big enough gap to climb through both Nikolai and Richofen opened fire. The first shells from their shotguns killed several zombies and ripped off the limbs, and exposed the torsos of the still functioning zombies behind them. The two fired a second time and several more had died as they tried to climb through, making a huge pile of corpses that continued to build up.

Dempsey and Takeo took over at this point while Nikolai and Richtofen reloaded their weapon. They took careful aim at the heads and fired once. As the M-14 always had 8 bullets inside a magazine – it should have 20 bullets inside but Samantha always wanted to make things difficult for our heroes - they could fire much longer than the shotgun, therefore giving Nikolai and Richtofen more than ample time to reload.

With this system the four shared, they were able to easily mop up the zombies before they could get one foot inside the room. However, like previous engagements' they had with the zombies, they all knew it wouldn't be long until the zombies got faster and tougher.

However are a new type of zombies they had never encountered before, and neither of them knew just _how _tough they were going to get the more the fight is prolonged.

Reloading their rifles Takeo and Dempsey stood up and, keeping their weapons at the ready, walked cautiously to the large gap in the wall with Nikolai and Richtofen following them. Without sticking their heads through the gap, the four zombie killers looked through the gap and found there was a fog that rolling in. The four shared a look before they backed off. Dempsey however stayed close to the gap, and raised an open palm in front of it. What happened next was unsurprising to them; several planks rose up from the ground and latched onto the wall, 'repairing' the gap.

When he was finished Dempsey turned to the others and shouldered his rifle. "Since we can repair gaps, I'm going to assume we're able to do everything else as well?"

"Makes sense." Nikolai said nodding his head in agreement as he too shouldered his shotgun. "Why change something when things are already beginning to become difficult?"

"Let us not forget zhe fact ve are facing new zombies." Richtofen reminded them with a pointed look. "Ve have no idea vhat zhey are able to do. Are zhey able to become faster? Vill zhey get stronger? Can zhey jump to inhuman lengths to catch up to us? Zhere are so many questions unanswered."

"True enough..." Dempsey murmured under his breath before he looked and nodded toward the planked up wall. "We'll deal with the problem when it shows itself. We always do. And these new zombies won't change them now." He said as he brought his gaze back to his comrades of circumstance. "So we do what we always do: stay in one area long enough to get enough currency to open some doors and buy new weapons?" Dempsey was referring to the points of course. Every time they killed zombies and repaired barriers, they all would receive some form of currency to buy new weapons off of walls that had weapon outlines and opening doors. The more they got the more fit they are and the less straining their efforts would be. If they had less points then everything mentioned previously would be in reverse, but the strain wouldn't be enough to make them immobile. It would just take them a lot more effort to do things, such as running and carrying things.

"Da! Sounds like a plan!" Exclaimed an enthusiastic Nikolai as he took his shotgun off his shoulder. He was very eager to blow apart the zombies and the only thing stopping him from going out there and taking the fight to them, was the fact he didn't have enough currency to open the doors to get outside, and the fact they outnumbered him. Really, really, really outnumbered him.

"These filthy creatures will fall before us!" Takeo added, using both his hands to raise his rifle to emphasise his words.

Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen all looked at the planked wall when they heard the zombified cheetahs moan, signifying they were back and got themselves in position they were previously. Since there are planks covering parts of the wall, neither of them had to hold back on firing. So the moment one of the undead cheetah's limped into view, it had its head shot off from the rest of its body.

They just had to wait for a bit until they had enough currency between them all to open the doors and get some new weapons that are more powerful than the ones they've got. It won't be until the fifth attack wave there'd be any noticeable changes to them. So they need to move out before that time.

X.X.X.X

It had taken an entire night and most of the next day but they had done it. Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec had killed any apes' and zombies they encountered and levelled most of the encampment. As they were taken by surprise, the apes and zombies were unable to mobilize quickly enough to repel the attacking dragons and dragoness. The four were quick and efficient in their attack, giving the enemy no quarter and sustaining no casualties on their side.

It was literally, in every sense of the word, a one sided slaughterfest.

"Well, let's get this over with so we can all get back home." Frida started as she stepped in front of the others. The three watched as Frida opened her scaled maw, a build up of flames forming at the back of her throat. Then she pushed the flame out of her mouth, that quickly formed into a large fireball, launching it into a section of the encampment that was still standing after their attacks. The fireball exploded, reducing everything that was caught in its proximity to ash.

She had done this several times to the other areas that were standing still; and when she was done Frida turned around and said, "Let's go." to the other three as she past by them before spreading her wings and taking off in the direction she and the others came from. Shaking his head Quake followed by taking a running start before spreading open his wings and taking off after her. Frost and Alec flew after them seconds after Quake took off.

It took them less time to get back to the surface than they took to get to the encampment beneath the city. When the four flew out of the hole and landed on the ground, they easily saw Terrador standing patently for them with a detachment of moles and dragons in armour behind them.

The Earth Guardian with a strict expression stepped forward. "Report; did you succeed in destroying the enemy?" He ordered them in a stern tone.

Straightening themselves as they saw Terrador all business like, Frida nodded her head and obediently gave her report in a professional manner. "The enemy and their encampment was successfully wiped out. Spyro and Sparx were correct when they said there was over 100 inhabitants of that camp. We were able to successfully fight and destroy them without sustaining any casualties on our end however."

Terrador nodded at her report, giving the dragoness a proud yet small smile before he gazed at the hole with a deep frown and narrowed eyes. "That is good news. You four did good down there. Now, it is time for the detachment behind me to do their job." The Earth Guardian turned around to speak to the detachment of soldiers directly.

"As you all know, an enemy force infiltrated Warfang under the dead of night, and had potentially poisoned our warehouse. Spyro and his companion Sparx, under my orders, travelled inside that gap in the ground behind us to see where it led, and return with whatever findings he has."

He took a brief pause to let his words sink in. He knew he had gotten their attention when he had saw them all tense and look at one another anxiously. "Both Spyro and his companion returned, hours later, reporting there was an enemy encampment inhabiting over 100 of our enemies who had infiltrated our fair city underground." He turned, looking between Frida, Frost, Alec and Quake one at a time, saying without pausing to take a breath; "In retaliation I, Cyril and Volteer had sent in four of our own to deal with the threat. Those four are right now in front of me, and, you all heard what Frida said: the encampment and all its inhabitants were wiped out."

At this point Terrador was facing the soldiers again and he began pacing back and forth as he stared at them intently. "However it will not end here! For this is where you all come in! The encampment may have been destroyed and the enemies killed, but that does not mean we should not be vigilant. The enemy can easily reoccupy and rebuild the encampment, if we give them all enough time to recuperate! Your job down there, is to make sure that does not happen! If you see any apes or any of the walking dead, you are to engage them immediately and put them down in the ground where they belong!"

The dragons and moles had perked up by this point, and when Terrador had finished his speech they all let out an enthusiastic cheer. They were pumped up by the speech as Terrador had given them the confidence to do this mission, where as before they looked like they were about to pussy out like a bitch.

With Terrador being the way he is, he could not have anyone who is vital to the safety of the city, inside and out, bitch out before they'd even begun the job they are tasked to do. He had led entire armies to victory against the armies of the Dark Master. Very rarely did he lose any engagements against them. Even Cynder's armies, when she was still corrupted, had suffered defeat after defeat against his leadership until she intervened herself.

It was risky. His plan to have these dragons and apes, stand guard over an area that may receive more enemies travelling through the underground tunnels. If any one else were to take his place, they would have sealed up the passage ways into the city. But not Terrador. What others would have seen as a structural weakness, he had seen an asset. An asset that was a possible way to get their forces around the Dragons Realms a lot quicker than they would if they were on the surface.

But this also had its disadvantages. There was a very high chance that the structure that made up the caves were weak, therefore a risk of collapsing. However Quake and Frida had unleashed a series of large boulders and fireballs at the enemy camp. If the structure of the tunnels was weak then the tunnels would have collapsed around them the moment those attacks collided with the walls.

Terrador however did not know of that.

Another risk was the enemy counter attacking before they were ready. But he knew nothing in life is ever easy, otherwise the Dark Master would have been defeated without the near annihilation of the dragon race and the enslavement of several other species who were defeated by his armies. That was why there was a particularly large force of dragons and moles going underground. Their numbers would help defend the area, and they would be able to scout out the tunnels in case the undead had made any other entry points in to Warfang.

As they finished cheering Terrador moved to the side and watched as the moles hitched a ride on the dragons, before they took off into the underground entrance. Once they were done Terrador brought his attention back on to Quake, Frida, Frost and Alec and giving them a proud look he said; "You four did a good job eliminating the enemy encampment. Take the rest of the day off, Ancestors know you four need it."

The four nod their heads giving Terrador a thankful look before taking their leave. When they were out of sight, Terrador let out a tired sigh as he tiredly looked at the hole in the ground once more. He frowned, worried there are more of these tunnels somewhere in Warfang waiting to be used to ambush them. It was a good thing the city was on high alert, with patrols in every section of the city before this happened. When he sent Frida and the other three dragons in to the underground system to remove the enemy, he had taken the time to gather Volteer and Cyril and had gotten them to redirect several guards to search the facilities inside Warfang for any more tunnels and report to them immediately the second they discover any.

Luckily for them they had no recent discoveries of any under ground tunnels since Sparx had alerted them a night ago. Yawning tiredly Terrador made his way out of the warehouse and onto the streets. He had been up all night, and for the most of the morning. He needed to get some shut eye. It just wouldn't do for a warrior such as himself to fall asleep in the line of duty because he had over exhausted himself.

X.X.X.X

The new zombies were more ferocious than they had thought. The cheetah's were faster and more agile, dodging and often outright avoiding gunfire when the rifles and shotguns were fired. Like the zombies before them however, they soon fell to the combined fire power of Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki, Nikolai Belinski and Edward Richtofen.

Dempsey had just wrestled a zombified anthropomorphic cheetah to the ground, before finishing it off with his combat knife by driving the blade of the knife in the side of its head, all the way to the hilt. Dempsey panted as he yanked the blade out of the head of the now dead zombie, and got to his feet after cleaning the blade on the remains of the zombified cheetah's fur coat.

"Ok so how many waves we lasted so far?" The marine questioned the others as he placed the knife back in its sheathe that was on his bandolier.

"Zhat vas five so far." Answered Richtofen who was reloading his Olympia shotgun with a heavy frown. "Zhese undead are more surprising than I had anticipated..." He said aloud, wondering how that was possible. Zombies, from what he knew of them, were not that smart and had run on their baser instincts.

That remains true for these zombies. However these ones could move faster than any of them had expected. They were more agile as well. Something else that surprised them. But with their weapons and the one bordered up wall where the zombies can get in, the four are rather confident they can hold their ground for few more waves before they had to move on.

"Da! They are faster and agile!" Nikolai exclaimed with a heavy scowl. He was repairing the barrier the zombies had succeeded in tearing down. He looked over his shoulder and growled menacingly; "The two things that are bad when facing zombies, and we have them this early!"

Dempsey grit his teeth in frustration. Nikolai was right about this one. They weren't expecting these zombies to be faster and more agile than a human being. "We should have expected that fucking girl to pull this on us. She has those undead dragons on her side." He growled lowly as he glared at the ground, and kicked an invisible stone. "I should have figured it out sooner, when I was told villages allied to Warfang were going missing. Along with several scouts going missing too."

"None of us knew, the girl had this amount of undead minions under her control." Takeo said lowly and wisely. His back was turned to them. As such no one saw the thoughtful look on his face as he thought back. Back to when they were fighting the zombies. "None of us could have predicted this."

"The signs were there though." Dempsey pointed out grimly giving Takeo a frown even if the Asian didn't see it. Takeo however did turn around to face Dempsey with a frown of his own, and gestured him to continue. So Dempsey did; "The missing villages. The missing scouts. Samantha revealing herself and sicking that dragon on me. The hellhound's too. The signs were all there...we...I...just didn't connect them." He corrected himself before sighing exhaustingly.

Takeo opened his mouth to reply but closed it when he and the others heard the zombies return. "For now, we survive, then we talk about this." Dempsey didn't argue with Takeo on that. Surviving was more important than talking about regretting for not doing something.

He and Takeo took position side by side in front of the newly barricaded wall and took aim through the gaps the planks provided. They didn't bother waiting for the zombies to come inside now. They were getting faster and they couldn't just wait for them to get inside. The four knew with their speed and agility, if the zombies manage to get inside the building, it would not end well for them.

Both Takeo and Dempsey opened fire the moment they saw a sprinting zombie coming toward them a distance away. The fog outside was particularly thick now, making it hard for the two soldiers to spot them. They had to see the glowing eyes of the undead to know where they are.

Still despite its speed it was only one zombie and was easily put down before it could even reach the barricade. Both Takeo and Dempsey reloaded their rifles quickly and opened fire on the zombies as more and more sprinted toward the building.

"Fuck! They're beginning to dodge the bullets now!" Dempsey cursed out. Takeo growled in irritation. The second the zombies were nearly 100 yards away from the building, they began to dodge and weave past the bullets from their M-14 rifles. Not one for giving up Takeo quickly took out the empty magazine from the slot of his rifle and replaced it with a fresh one, before taking aim again and firing with a deep scowl on his face.

The first bullet missed its target. The cheetah jumping into the air to avoid the projectile completely. Takeo followed the undeads trail with his rifle and opened fire the moment the zombified cheetah's feet touched the ground. The undead cheetah was unable to get out of the way and the bullet easily met its mark; directly in the forehead, destroying the brain and killing the zombie instantly.

Dempsey however was reloading his rifle again as the cheetah's were quickly closing the distance, and had to bite back a curse when a few dozen of them reached the barricade before he could finish reloading. However, before they could get their paws on the planks Takeo opened fire on them. The close proximity made sure the bullets were unable to be missed and the Asian made sure to aim for their heads when he opened fire.

Dempsey turned to Nikolai and Richtofen and yelled out; "Nikolai! Richtofen! We need cover over here!" over the groans of moaning of the zombies that sound like they were in the hundreds. The Russian and German quickly ran to them with their shotgun at the ready, and after both Takeo and Dempsey moved out of the way the two men opened fire.

The shells easily made short work of the zombies who were packed together closely at the barricade, trying to rip off the planks in order to get in. The two had to reload again, forcing Takeo and Dempsey to take over once more while they removed the empty shells from the chamber of their Olympia, and replacing them with new ones.

But of all their combined fire power and their teamwork, the four were forced to back off when the cheetah's had managed to get their decaying hands on the barricade, and ripping off the wall one by one. Taking aim once more Dempsey bared his teeth as he fired rapidly into the bodies of the zombies who were about to breach the room. Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen didn't bother to take turns now. They all fired rapidly into the horde who were now beginning to climb over the ledge of the wall.

Like the last several times they done this; their bodies lifelessly fell to the floor as their torsos and limbs were ripped to shreds by bullets. Like the wave previous to this one, the zombies were able to get inside the room. In response to this Dempsey grabbed a pineapple grenade – that always spawned by two in every round – cooked it for three seconds before throwing it to the approaching horde.

The grenade exploded seconds later. The force from the explosion coming from the grenade blew off the legs of several zombies, reducing them to crawl around by their arms. Few of them were missing arms, or were killed outright. These ones were too far in between however as the pile of corpses that were beginning to gather in front of the window softened the impact the grenade should have been able to give off.

However, in spite of all this more and more zombies were getting in. But the pile of corpses were making the zombies slow down, just giving the four soldiers enough time to reload their weapons. Dempsey knowing it was only a matter of time before this room would be overrun, decided to head to the door that kept them in this room and used the currency he had built up from fighting the zombies to open it up. Pressing a palm against it, Dempsey gasped as he felt a small part of his energy drain away.

Smirking as the door opened to the outside, the former Marine Raider turned to address his companions. "Guys, the door's open! Let's get out of here quick!" The three looked and seeing that the door was indeed open, they quickly followed the American when he ran through the doorway.

The outside of the building was worse than they thought. The fog that covered the entire of the village was now thick enough that it made visibility almost non existent. Thankfully, the four of them were close together so they were still able to see one another thanks to their close proximity to one another.

Dempsey looked to his companions. "Stay close and keep quiet. We don't know where these freak-bags are lurking." He whispered to them. They nodded seeing the wisdom in his words. Being close to another would mean they would be able to support each other if they happened to get in trouble. Being quiet in this fog would allow them to hear where the zombies are and which direction they are in. It also works both ways. The zombies would know where they are if they made a lot of noise too.

The four walked in a diamond formation. One at the front taking point. Two in the middle watching their sides. And one in the back watching their flank. The formation would provide cover in all directions and angles. It's perfect for a situation like this.

Dempsey being the courageous badass he is took the spot at the front. Nikolai and Richtofen took the middle, with Takeo taking the flank. The four then cautiously moved into the fog and further away from the building they just came out from. Not ten seconds later a large crowd of zombies ran out of the doorway and into the open. The second they came out however they immediately slowed until they were limping around.

This was a sign of intelligence. A minor upgrade from Samantha. Originally the zombies would still run in the fog, giving away their position to the living almost immediately. However thanks to Samantha making sure they weren't as brain-dead like their predecessors when they were going up against the living, they now knew when to run and when to walk.

In this case since Dempsey, Nikolai, Richtofen and Takeo haven't spotted them yet, or opened fire upon them they had no reason to run.

As she watched the scene below Samantha was feeling proud of her accomplishment. That accomplishment on making the zombies more smarter when trying to track down their prey. Their predecessors were not that smart, and it was something she had regretted not improving. But this new chance had given her some opportunity to try out some experimentation. Teleportation was one of them. Now knowing when to run and when to walk was another. There are of course several other experiments she had accomplished doing, but...she will wait until her minions reveal them to her mortal enemies.

So there she was. Watching them patently in the sky. Watching as her new minions were slowly trailing the zombie slayers in the fog. With her rather advanced perception, she was able to keep track of the four zombie slayers within the fog. No matter if the fog they were within was thick to the degree where visibility was almost non-existent. Her sight allowed her to see a...rather unique outline of them. If she were to compare it to something, then it would be heat vision.

Samantha flinched as she felt some more of her minions suddenly die and it wasn't from here. Frowning the little girl closed her eyes and tried to trace the place where the loss of connection occurred. She scoffed when she realised it came from Warfang. Or rather underneath Warfang. She was not at all bothered to discover one of her outposts she told the apes to set up was destroyed. She knew its destruction was coming a mile away, when she had saw the purple dragon and his dragonfly companion had discovered their presence.

Sure she could have given them a heads up on the upcoming counter-attack but she didn't. She simply did not see the point in telling them when it was their fault to begin with. Sure it was cruel of her to do that but that unfortunately is life. Life cannot always be full of sunshine and rainbows.

She brought her gaze back on to the zombie slayers and scratched the side of her chin with a thoughtful look. Then her eyes lit up brightly when an idea came to her. A maniacal grin grew on her lips as she rubbed her hands together, like a mad scientist would do; "Zhey have cheetah's after zhem. Vhy not sick the moles on zhem too, vhile zhey are outside?" She giggled to herself in a sinister manner.

Dempsey and the others stopped and stared at the ground in alarm when the felt the earth shifting. The four looked at one another with wide eyes before they sprinted along the road, just as several decaying miniature paw hands rose from the earth where they once stood.

All of them knew the cause of the earth shifting beneath their feet. It was the undead. All around them the zombie slayers heard the hissing of the dead rising from the ground. Both Nikolai and Richtofen saw the zombies rising from the earth in true undead fashion in every direction they looked. Without stopping the two soldiers hip fired their shotguns into the rising zombies before they could get out of the earth completely.

Remarkably both shots from them hit their mark, re-killing a total of four zombies to which the zombie slayers realised looked similar to moles. The armour they wore, looked similar to the ones Dempsey recognised being worn in Warfang.

"_The fuck!? Are those moles from Warfang!?" _Dempsey thought in realisation. He grunted when he felt a hand clamp against his ankle. In retaliation Dempsey took his M1911 out of its holster, aimed at the ground and fired blindly several times until he heard the familiar death groan from the undead and the grip loosening on his ankle. He holstered it again before running to catch up with the others who didn't stop to wait for him. _"Samantha turned the scouts that went missing into zombies! But, if she had them killed and turned them to what they are now...where 'bouts did she get those cheetah zombies?"_

It was a question he knew would not be answered. A mystery that needed solving. And like all mysteries and puzzles Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and himself came across they would have to solve it to get some answers.

It's the same shit they do on different days.

X.X.X.X

Sparx stopped following his brother and looked out in the distance. His eyes narrowed into slits as he felt a disturbance. Like there was something unnatural in the air. It was as if the oxygen around him was beginning to wither and die.

"Sparx?" Spyro called out to him in a concerned tone when he realised the dragonfly wasn't following him. "What's the matter?" The purple dragon asked as he walked up to him.

Sparx didn't say anything at first. But then he turned to Spyro. "I don't know." He told him with a serious look which had gotten Spyro to straighten himself. He knew Sparx. He was never this serious unless there was something wrong. "It feels as if the air around us is dying...it's like...it's rotting."

Spyro narrowed his eyes in concern and sniffed the air to see if he can smell anything out of the ordinary. "Do you which direction it's coming from?" He asked as he began to sniff around him. "Because I can't smell anything in the air like you're describing."

Sparx shook his head negatively. "Sorry Spyro. I can't tell where it's coming from. It is like it is everywhere." He looked at Spyro seriously. "Something unnatural is happening and I don't like it."

Spyro narrowed his eyes contemplatively. He couldn't smell this rot in the air but Sparx could. He narrowed his eyes even further at the thought. Sparx was smaller in size. Maybe he can detect things that he can't because of that?

Volteer did have a theory that species who are smaller than them are more sensitive to their surroundings. It was true in a way. He did see Sparx react to something a lot quicker than he was able to. That is when he didn't see or hear anything coming. It was like he had a sixth sense or something.

Because of this Spyro was inclined to believe his brother. "Then we'd better be careful from here on out and be more alert for anything out of the ordinary." He told the dragonfly, who began to follow Spyro when he began walking away.

"No offense little brother but everything that is happening right now is out of the ordinary. I mean...the entire city is on alert for an army of dead people for crying out loud!" The dragonfly exclaimed dramatically.

"All the more for us to be watchful. Who knows what could happen if we're not watching?"

"The only thing I can think of happening, is us getting invaded."

"Ssssh!" Hissed out Spyro as he glared at Sparx who was giving him a confused look. "You'll jinx us if you say that!"

Sparx scoffed. "That's nothing but a myth." He told him waving off Spyro's warning. "It is merely coincidence that, that something happens just after you say it. Besides' do you hear us getting attacked?" Sparx asked quickly looking around the city while cupping a hand around the side of his head, as if he were trying to listen to something.

"No." Spyro admitted while giving Sparx a disapproving frown. "But you still shouldn't say something like that though. Even if it is coincidence you still made it happen by saying it." He doesn't like it when people talk about things that can be jinxed. Even if it is only a myth, it can still happen when you least expect it.

Sparx stared at his brother blankly. "Even if it is co... Spyro...what kind of logic is that?"

"It is my logic. Don't argue with it."

"But I wasn't going to... Oh forget it." He began only to pause half-way and threw his arms up in surrender. Spyro smirked victoriously. Happy that he had managed to get another one up on his dragonfly brother.

With that out of the way both dragonfly and dragon went back to focusing on their patrol through the streets of Warfang. If they stayed there a moment longer, they would have seen an unnatural looking fog suddenly appear miles away in the distance. Where Spyro had last seen the marines, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen.

The duo made their way to the Dragon Temple, and, eventually ran into Terrador who was also heading to the Dragon Temple to recuperate. The temple was located near the city centre just in front of the plaza and the market district. As it was near their location, it didn't take long for the two dragons and dragonfly to get there.

The Dragon Temple was simply massive. Its appearance was similar to the old temple they stayed at when Spyro had first met Ignitus. Only this one was much bigger and is made of the finest marble, skilfully crafted by the best architects. There are two conjoined paths that led up to the gateway of the temple, which was over 20ft long making it tall and wide enough for a fully grown dragon to get through.

"I can never get used to the size of these temples you people stay in." Sparx stated as the three made their way up the path. "Their just so, huge!" He exclaimed while spreading his arms in front of him to emphasise his words.

"I am not surprised considering your size." Terrador replied.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Demanded the dragonfly offended.

"What he means Sparx, because of how small you are everything you see is much bigger in your point of view. Considering how small you are, everything you see would be bigger to you than to someone like Terrador." Spyro quickly explained to his brother before said dragonfly could bow a gasket.

"...Oh..." Said the dragonfly, nodding his head as he understood what Spyro was telling him. "So...if a fruit like a banana is large for me...then it would be small for you?" He questioned looking at his brother for confirmation.

Spyro couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation at how Sparx was acting. He knows the dragonfly isn't this dumb. Either he is doing this on purpose or Sparx was acting like this as a joke.

"Yes Sparx. Exactly that." Terrador replied.

He couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment at how easily Terrador is deceived by his younger brother. But if Sparx suddenly make a crack at his intelligence then he would make his younger brother regret it.

"Spyro, how come you aren't as smart as Terrador?" Came Sparx' slightly whining voice.

His response was Spyro thwacking him hard on the back of the head with his tail. Because of this unexpected move from his brother Sparx was unable to react quick enough to dodge; and with the amount of power put behind the blow, it was enough to send the dragonfly crashing the ground.

That left Spyro feeling very satisfied. Terrador couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at the antics between Spyro and Sparx. By the time Sparx was able to bring himself off the ground (the blow had sent him into unconsciousness for a short while) the two dragons were already in the temple. Huffing to himself and rambling about annoying purple lizards who needed an ass kicking, Sparx quickly closed the distance between himself and the Temple entrance.

The doors were already open; so Sparx was easily able to enter the building with no resistance whatsoever.

X.X.X.X

Alex Mason was someone who trusted his hunch and gut feelings. It was what made him trust Viktor Reznov. It was how he survived his days in Vorkuta up until his freedom. But what he was feeling right now, it was like there is something major, something big, was happening; and he along with everyone else should be there for it.

He didn't know how right he was. As he along with Frank Woods, Jason Hudson, Grigori Weaver, Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck were heading towards the passage way that would bring them to Dante's Freezer Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and Dr. Edward Richtofen were fighting off a sudden invasion of undead at the same moment.

Right now they all are several miles away from the village so they won't know what is happening there right now. Even if they did somehow know what was going on they were too far away to try and help. If they suddenly backtracked not would they be wasting valuable time, but they would be giving Samantha more time to uncover this weapon they're going to try and destroy.

"You guys get the feelin' we're all missing out on something?" Woods suddenly asked out of the blue.

Surprisingly Frank had gotten several grunts of acknowledgement from his peers. It was Mason who answered though. "Yeah. I dunno what it means though. But I do feel we should be there."

"Who here among us thinks it's because of that Nazi son-of-a-bitch?" Woods asked in a spiteful tone. Literally spitting out the word 'Nazi' as if it were a cancer. In response several hands went up. All of them were from the humans in the group. Neither of the cheetah's had raised their paws since they had no idea what they were talking about. Nor did they know who or what a Nazi is.

Little did Frank know that he was closer to the mark than he ever imagined.

"You humans look oddly similar to apes. Why is that?" Hunter asked, mainly as a way to start up a conversation and as a way to gain some insight about them.

"Evolution, I guess." Roebuck replied, shrugging. "Both apes and humans are primates; but as you can tell we humans are different to apes in many, many ways. For one we do not have fur all over our bodies, and two we have a different body structure compared to them. And we humans share a common ancestor with chimpanzees who are one of the many primate species back in our time period."

"I didn't know that." Polonsky exclaimed in surprise. He was looking at Roebuck in a new light now.

Hunter and the other cheetah's were giving the humans in the group wary looks now they discovered they were similar, somewhat, to the apes. It was that they haven't been hostile towards them that they haven't attacked yet. Their highly advanced weaponry also added to their wariness factor. They didn't know just what those things in their hands are capable of and they aren't willing to antagonise them because they're primates. Just like the apes. That would be stupid.

"Not many do unfortunately. Before I became a solider, I was a student in university learning about science." The scarred sergeant explained with a wistful expression. Reminiscing his days before he was conscripted into the military to participate in the war in the East. "Then the war happened with Germany and in the East. While we weren't actively participating in the war against Nazi Germany, we were giving our allies help in the form of shipment. Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and America was brought into the war. I and several others were conscripted into the army shortly after that to take part in the war effort."

Polonsky and Miller were both surprised. "Really? Science?" Polonsky asked, to which Roebuck nodded his head. "I was trying to become a car mechanic in University. But that didn't happen because of Japan dragging us into the war. What were you doing before you entered the military Miller?" Polonsky asked as he and Roebuck turned towards their friend with curiosity.

This was the first time they opened up like this and knowing what Roebuck was doing before he became a soldier allowed him to know what he was before he entered the war. Even Frank, Mason, Hudson and Weaver were giving Miller curious looks as to what he was learning before he became a soldier. These three men are, would be/soon to be, heroes in the war against Japan in the Second World War.

"Eh, nothing exciting as learning to be a car mechanic or a scientist." Miller admitted truthfully with a shrug of his shoulders. Scratching the back of his head Miller sheepishly added, "I was learning to become a post man. Nothing important about that. Nothing at all..."

"There's nothing bad about learning to become a post man. As far as I know a lot of people from different roles in society were conscripted into the army 20 or so years ago." Frank said to them sagely before chuckling, "You have to admit though that being in the army is a lot more exciting than being a post man going from door to door every week?"

Miller nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It is pretty exciting. We get to see places we normally would never see otherwise. The only thing that annoys me the most though is getting shot."

"Such is the fate of every solider who are in the middle of a war..." Everyone nodded their heads in sombre agreement. The cheetah's of Avalar had been in a war not too long ago and they had sustained heavy casualties in a lot of skirmish and battles they took part in.

Hunter himself had been tasked by Ignitus himself with finding Spyro and Cynder, and get them back to Warfang in the hopes they would be able to help in the war effort against his Dark Armies. It took him three years to track them down to the mountain of Malefor. The reason he had taken so long to find them was because the purple dragon had been to too many places' and he had to follow in his footsteps and talk to the locals to see which direction he had gone to next.

Miller, Polonsky and Roebuck were in the middle of fighting the Japanese on their home territory on Peleliu. They knew the horror's of war. They knew the risks. The Japanese were stubborn. Greatly so as it took them almost three months instead of three days to take the entire island. They fought the marines tooth and nail for every inch of it. The Marine Raiders had sustained heavy casualties in the Battle of Peleliu but had managed to capture the island in the end.

Two years before that they took part in the early stages of the Battle of Makin. Miller's reconnaissanceteam was there scouting out the island. They were captured. After 1 week of radio silence the Marine Raiders went in to find and secure them. Out of them all only two people were left alive; and out of the two, Miller was the only one who is able for combat.

The S.O.G had taken part in the Vietnam War and many of the battles that took part in it. Many of these involve the capturing of enemy prisoners, rescuing downed pilots, and conducting rescue operations to retrieve prisoners of war throughout South-east Asia.

Everyone here knew the horrors of war. Now they were going to try and prevent another one from breaking out.

"Such is the horror of war..." Woods grimly said out aloud.

They rest of the way was silent from there, and the atmosphere around the group was solemn. Remembering the life and death situations they all faced on the battlefield left a bitter taste in their mouth. "How far are we from this underground passageway?" Mason asked just as they reached a really steep hill.

"Not too far now. It's just ahead, up the mound." Hunter informed just as they began to make their way up the steep hill.

When they reached the top of the slope they found the cave that led under the sea. It took them several hours of walking. Looking up Hunter was able to see the sun in the middle of the sky, showing him it was late in the afternoon.

"Hmm...so this is the underground tunnel huh?" Roebuck stated allowed as he and everyone else stopped in front of the entryway. He looked over it with a light frown on his scarred face. "It looks like it hadn't been used for years." Roebuck was right the tunnel looked like it hadn't been used for years. The entrance was almost covered by overgrown foliage; another few years of neglect and nature would have succeeded in reclaiming it. No one would have known there was a tunnel behind it if it was completely overgrown.

"That is because it hasn't. However it does lead us to Dante's Freezer." Hunter stated.

Gregory turned to Hunter and asked, "How long would it take us to get there?"

"A few days if we are to keep our normal pace. There are several areas within we can use to set up camp and rest for a while. As for food and water, luckily for us there is plenty of foliage within that grows edible substance and water, so that will not be an issue for us." Hunter answered, before he walked ahead of the group and stopping in front of the tunnel and cutting down the foliage that was about to conceal it from the world. Once that was done the archer turned to the others and said, "I'll go first as I know the layout of the underground tunnels well enough to keep us from getting lost."

The humans of the group nodded in agreement. Having someone who knows the place better than they did is a good idea. Better to have someone who knows the layout guide them and keep them from getting lost than someone who doesn't.

Seeing none of them argue with him Hunter nodded back at them and walked in with the humans and fellow cheetah's following after him. If they kept this up they'd get to Dante's Freezer in about three days.

They can only hope Samantha doesn't find what she is looking for within those three days, otherwise everyone would find themselves dead by the end of the week.


End file.
